Bay role players commit to build climate-smart city
● Landmark pledge binds signatories to counter global warming
A ground-breaking pledge to work towards a climate-resilient Nelson Mandela Bay was signed by a range of partners at a historic ceremony in New Brighton yesterday.
The Climate Change Resilient Development Strategy Framework binds the signatories to the development of a strategy to counter climate-related threats and at the same time capitalise on existing resources and meet the growing demands of a new low-carbon economy.
The framework emphasises collective responsibility, leaving no communities behind and the Bay’s blue chip human, environmental and green energy resources.
The pledge was signed at the Mendi Arts Centre, once a beer hall before it was burned down during the antiapartheid struggle, and the transformation of the building was hailed as symbolic of what the hosting co-ordinators were trying to achieve.
Dr Chippy Olver, executive director of hosting the Presidential Climate Commission, said the international agreement that all countries would, by 2050, achieve net zero — removing as much CO2 as they produced — had sparked “stratospheric change”.
“A desperate race is on, driving a profound shift in technology.
“It is a revolution akin to the Industrial Revolution, and there are going to be winners and losers.”
He said related to that reality, the 2035 ban on internal combustion engines (ICE) announced by the European Union had potentially grave ramifications for Nelson Mandela Bay’s production and export of vehicles to Europe.
“There is going to be naked competition and we have to develop our own new supply chains.
“Countering climate change is not just a greenie issue, it is an economic development issue.”
He said he was confident Nelson Mandela Bay could meet its particular climate change challenges, however, and provide a blueprint for the rest of SA to follow.
“You have a rich thread of civic activism, amazing clean energy resources and exciting existing sustainable development projects like Kwanobuhle’s solar-powered Transition Township. You can do it.”
Public health political head Thsonono Buyeye said the metro was in full support of the work being done by the Presidential Climate Commission.
“We had eight years of drought and then when the rains came we had localised flooding that drained our disaster sub-directorate’s resources.
“We are here to help kickstart a strategy to combat the devastating climate change that is already happening and that we still face.”
Dr Andrew Muir, whose Wilderness Foundation Africa has been appointed by the Presidential Climate Commission to lead the drive to transform Nelson Mandela Bay to a climate smart city, said the combination of natural and human capital was the key.
“We are the most biodiverse city in Africa but we also have skills and we know how to work together, which we showed when Covid-19 hit.”
Nelson Mandela University sciences dean and acting deputy vice-chancellor Prof Azwinndini Muronga said while the message was clear from the climate change scientists that it was a reality, only collective action would overcome it.
“The war against climate change will only be won by all of us.
“Let us make this region into the region we want.”
He said to do this, the issue of climate change had to be placed squarely on the education curriculum from preschool to high school, and innovative ways found to raise awareness about it.
“We must get the message out in our schools and our taxis.”
Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber board member Kelvin Naidoo said the perception that climate change was “far out of sight” was a dangerous one.
“Like the frog that would hop straight out if it was put into a pot of boiling water but which ends up being boiled alive because the temperature of the water is instead slowly raised, and it doesn’t realise the danger — the Bay economy is going to die a slow death unless we act.”
He said the Bay auto industry for instance was fast losing ground to competitors in other countries who were forging ahead with plans to meet the demand for new energy vehicles.
“This launch is proof already that we as a city don’t just talk, we act.
“But we have to act urgently.”
Climate Justice Coalition secretary-general Dr Alex Lenferna said efforts had to be made to counter a new “creeping apartheid” in the form of a growing rift between middle and lower class communities capable of making the low carbon transition necessary to counter climate change, and poorer people who could not.
“We have to build trust that we can deliver a just transition that will leave no-one behind, and the partnerships we see here today are indication that we can.
“But we must also realise that there are going to be those who benefit from the status quo — and we are committed to take the fight to them.”
Young climate change champion Lusanda Msebi said young people wanted a clearer message but yearned to be involved.
“We’re saying to the Presidential Climate Commission, please guys get down to the ground with your terminology.
“And also please include us. We want to learn and help with decision-making.”