Page 191 - AJWEP-v22i2

Mitigating climate change in city of Tshwane

important for economic development, as they facilitate et al., identified a declining temperature trend in
12
access to markets, local communities, and opportunities South Africa. Employing a mixed-methods research
in South Africa. The impacts of climate change have an design, they investigated the impacts of climate change
influence on the specifications for designing road and on the Kruger National Park in South Africa and found
stormwater infrastructure. In the City of Tshwane, the high inter-annual variability in rainfall, with an overall
service life of road and stormwater infrastructure is decreasing trend. This variability has led to increased
diminishing, and a large proportion of the City’s budget costs related to environmental and wildlife management,
is allocated to maintenance caused by climate change. as well as government expenditures. They also reported
The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality was significant losses of flora and fauna and damage to key
established on December 5, 2000, by merging several infrastructure within the park, attributing these impacts
municipalities and councils that were previously part of to climate-related events, such as floods, droughts,
the Pretoria regime and its surrounding areas. 2 and extreme weather, highlighting the need for the
Infrastructure such as roads and drainage systems development of adaptation measures. Chersich and
are essential elements of a reliable, effective, and Wright investigated the impacts of climate change on
13
functional transport system; without them, the economy the health sector in South Africa through a systematic
cannot function. These infrastructures also impact literature review and found that, although various climate
public health, the economy, and disaster management change policy frameworks exist in the country, only a
policies. However, roads and stormwater infrastructure few address the impacts of climate change on the health
are simultaneously exposed to climate change and, in sector. The review also reported that while the country
some cases, contribute to it. For example, construction has established systems for forecasting extreme weather
activities in the road sector involve energy-intensive events, there is little evidence of adaptation measures.
materials, such as bitumen (derived from fossil fuels), Botai et al. examined the spatial-temporal variability
14
which contribute to carbon emissions. of precipitation patterns in South Africa using satellite
The widespread flooding in South Africa in February precipitation data from 1998 to 2015. The study indicated
2023 resulted in the pronouncement of a national state significant variation in precipitation across the country.
of disaster in line with the Disaster Management Act. For instance, the precipitation distribution was found to be
This followed significant flooding that affected homes, uniform in the southern and central parts of South Africa,
caused dam overflows, and damaged road infrastructure while the western and northeastern parts showed extreme
across the country. The adverse effects of climate irregularity. Between December to February, precipitation
3
change in South Africa have resulted in considerable distribution was more uniform, while it was moderate
loss of life, damage to livelihoods, and a decline in the between September and November, with extreme
gross domestic product (GDP). 4,5 irregularity observed between June and August. The study
There is growing concern about the vulnerability by Jovanovic et al. on evapotranspiration in South Africa
15
of infrastructure due to previous occurrences and the revealed a slight reduction in evapotranspiration rates in
predicted increase in extreme weather events. As a South Africa from 2000 to 2012 in all climatic regions,
6-8
result, developing a flexible physical network solution is except in the southern part of the country. This outcome
still challenging for engineers and designers. Therefore, corroborates Botai et al.’s conclusion that the southern
9
14
a modeling and simulation approach may be helpful in part of the country continues to experience more regular
assessing the impacts of climate change in South Africa climatic conditions. Ndlovu and Demlie investigated
16
and exploring possible mitigation strategies. drought and rainfall patterns across the KwaZulu-Natal
Schweikert et al. investigated the effect of climate (KZN) province of South Africa over a period of 48 years
10
change on road infrastructure in South Africa using a (1970 – 2017). It was found that the frequency of drought
stressor-response approach. The study projected that is increasing, with rainfall frequency decreasing.
the cost incurred due to climate change may range However, the results obtained by Orimoloye et al.,
17
between 116.8 and 228.7 million United States dollars who assessed drought conditions in South Africa using
(USD) in the 2050s if no adaptation policy measures Terra MOD13Q1 data from the satellite in the Free State
are implemented. However, with the implementation province, indicated that drought is less prevalent during
of adaptation policies, these costs could be reduced to the winter season but more severe in the summer in this
55.7 million USD. The policies include the construction region.
of modern roads with secondary pavements. Dube and Climate change has significant negative impacts
Nhamo, whose findings align with those of Anekwe on the transport sector, especially road infrastructure,
11

Volume 22 Issue 2 (2025) 185 doi: 10.36922/AJWEP025080049