By Katinka Lund Waagsaether Feature image by Ruwadzano Matsika Attending the 2018 Global Change Conference, which takes place biennially under the banner of the Global Change Grand Challenge of the Department of Science of Technology, gave me a sense of excitement. My excitement came from what seemed to be a somewhat broadening perspective and scope –… Read more »
On the 18 of January 2019 a low pressure system developed on the southern coast of Mozambique as the convection brought rainfall to Inhambane province. By 20 of January it was classified as tropical depression and moving northward in Mozambique channel in direction of Zambezia province . As it moved northward it gained more energy… Read more »
Executive Summary: The initial National Communication in accordance with Article 12 of the United Nations Framework Convention on climate Change (UNFCCC) was prepared in 2004, followed by the second communication in 2011. This document constitutes South Africa’s Third National Communication (TNC). The document follows suggested UNFCCC guidelines for developing countries in reporting on national circumstances;… Read more »
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CSAG was involved in a USAID funded project on Assessing Sustainability and Effectiveness of Climate Information Services in Africa (Sustainable CIS). The aim of the project was to better understand how to design and implement sustainable CIS models within African NMHSs. The Sustainable CIS project assessed the current capacity of NMHSs in seven sub-Saharan countries… Read more »
Every year, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), a division of the UN, produces a State of Food Security report. This year, a key focus of the report was on the role of climate extremes and variability in the recently observed rise in hunger globally. A number of CSAG researchers (Olivier Crespo, Christopher Jack, Mark… Read more »
The annual CSAG Winter School marks an exciting time for CSAG staff, affiliates and colleagues. Personally, being involved in developing course content, facilitation, logistics, participating (to some extent) in the week long course and engaging with participants, the whole process was equally exciting, educational and informative. For myself and many others, this year was particularly exciting… Read more »
9-point summary: The Cape Town water crisis was the consequence of a severe 3-year drought affecting most of the winter-rainfall zone (WRZ) of South Africa and especially the Boland Mountain Catchment (BMC) that supplies water to Cape Town’s supply dams (see Piotr’s detailed analyses on drought severity and drivers) The Western Cape Province has 3… Read more »
Much has been argued about the causes of the 2017 Cape Town’s water crisis. Is it the drought? Is it climate change? Is it population growth? Is it lack of foresight by the national government or the local government? Is it the rich? Is it the poor? Is it farmers? Or industry? Or invasive trees?… Read more »