Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Barbara Creecy says it is important to accelerate efforts to adapt to the reality of a rapidly changing climate and to close the existing adaptation gap.
This follows the release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Summary for Policy Makers and a report of the Sixth Assessment Cycle.
The report shows that more than a century of burning fossil fuels and unsustainable energy and land use worldwide, particularly in developed countries, has led to global warming of 1.1 degrees Celsius since the start of the industrial revolution.
The department’s spokesperson Albi Modise says, “A recent such example is Cyclone Freddy that killed hundreds of people in Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe, reminding us that despite some progress to reduce climate risks, we remain ill-prepared for the existential threat posed by climate change. The IPCC finds that with every increment of warming, the risks, impacts and related losses and damages escalate. When these risks combine with other adverse events, such as pollution and loss of biological diversity, they cascade across sectors and regions and become increasingly difficult to manage.”
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