South Africa has developed a set of national goals in which the development of its impoverished rural areas is a high priority.
However, the existing challenges will be exacerbated by climate change, which may reduce productive capacity and put further pressure on municipalities which will have to be prepared for issues such as sea level rise, floods and drought, as well as financing mitigation measures under the new Climate Change Policy.
Jane Turpie and Martine Visser of EPRU, the Environmental Economics Policy Research Unit which is the South African node of the EfD, are undertaking research on the impacts of climate change on agricultural productivity in rural areas, the financial impacts of climate change on rural municipalities, and an overall spatial assessment of the vulnerability of rural municipalities to climate change.
They will provide advice to the Fiscal and Financial Commission, which in turn advises parliament, on the measures that should be put in place to strengthen the resilience of rural areas to climate change.