Get local with climate change–in more ways than one!

In the article, “Thinking globally, acting locally –institutionalizing climate change at the local government level in Durban, South Africa” (available here) author Debra Roberts dicusses the importance of climate adaptation on a slightly smaller scale than we are used to thinking of. As a student in this mosaic program, I have been focused on climate negotiations on an international scale. The conference of the parties works to create agreements for greenhous gas emissions on a global scale, but this is not the only way to make progress in the fight to end climate change. Roberts shows the progress Durban has made by implementing emissions reduction strategies on a regional level in Durban, South Africa. This strategy includes three “phases”.

Phase 1: Climatic Future for Durban project.

This phase works to focus on what specific impacts climate change will have on Durban.

Phase 2: Headline Climate Change Adaptation Strategy project.

This phase takes impacts realized from phase one and suggests adaptation strategies which Durban should begin to develop.

Phase 3: Urban Integrated Assessment Framework.

The last phase will incorporate impact assessments and adaptation goals into a computer model which has the ability to simulate how different adaptation strategies will hold up against climate change impacts in Durban.

So yes, it makes perfect sense to think more locally in terms of adapting to climate change and mitigating emissions. But we are still missing one thing: thinking locally in terms of people’s understanding of these issues and why they matter.

While these great new climate-conscious development strategies may be going on, how many average citizens know about them? Furthermore, how many people know what they mean or why they matter? Addressing climate change on a local level also means understanding the knowledge base of an average person. This requires a realization that these citizens wont care unless we help them see why they should! Roberts mentions this briefly with an example from a Clean Development Mechanism (even the name is confusing!) which involved turning landfill gases into electricity. The project manager of the CDM took a great deal of effort to explain to the public why this project would not only benefit Durban financially, but was also a positive step in realtion to climate change. However, the project was such a technical one that his words were only able to reach a small number of people, none of which were “average” citizens.

Although the majority of her article is spent explaining the “three phases” in which Durban can become more locally driven to address climate change, she recognizes that it will take more to get the whole city involved. She writes that the “key to any attempt to embed the climate change issue at the local level is the ability to answer the question, “What does it mean for my city, town, or village?” Perhaps further we should then consider the importance of what knowledge is needed to understand the answer to this question. We can’t overlook the fact that climate change education should be a part of acting locally too! 

Work Sited

Roberts, D., 2008. “Thinking globally and acting locally – institutionalizing climate change at the local government level in Durban, South Africa,” Environment & Urbanization 20(2):521-537.