An upcoming climate change indaba will focus on indigenous solutions to mitigate climate change in South Africa. [Picture: SciTech Daily]
An upcoming climate change indaba is set to feature a discussion on harnessing indigenous knowledge for solutions to climate change. The effects of climate change have manifested from Hawaii to Mumbai, from Cape Town to Cairo.
The deadly wildfires that claimed 115 lives in Maui, Hawaii, earlier this month underscored the consequences of climate change. But the devastating effects of climate change can be felt closer to home, too, as the Western Cape was recently drenched by heavy rainfall.
“We are experiencing unprecedented flooding in this country and disasters are rife as a result of that,” said Dr Msizi Myeza, CEO for Council for the Built Environment (CBE) in South Africa.
In response, the CBE will soon gather key stakeholders in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. They will discuss, among other aspects, how to indigenous knowledge can be used to mitigate the impact of climate change in South Africa.
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Local solutions
While the Indaba is also set to discuss improving education on the built environment and using creativity in infrastructure projects to address climate change, Myeza said there had to be a particular focus on indigenous solutions.
“If you go to any village or town, people living in that area … have an idea on the environment and how they deal [with it]. There is a need for us to revisit why the Zulu people, for example, use rondavels. That should be part of the discourse in terms of how we mitigate climate change.”
The Climate Change Indaba will take place at the Olive Convention Centre in Durban on 31 August and 01 September. The city has itself experienced severe flooding on several occasions in the past five years. There are also signs the tide of the Indian Ocean is eager to breach the coastline in years to come.
