Picture this: a lively mix of creative minds, dynamic engagements, and knowledge-sharing, converging at CASCADE’s first Learning Lab. On the 9th of May, the Pamuzinda Safari Lodge venue became a space for collaboration and creativity. Being based at a Safari Lodge made the experience even more special. It was a warm, tranquil day with the… Read more »
CSAG Blog
More context on Cape Town storms
Purpose of this piece In this short companion blog, a link is provided to an article in The Conversation, in which Sabina and I give a short, broad overview of our current understanding of storms affecting Cape Town and surrounding areas and how they may be affected by climate change. In this blog, we provide… Read more »
Is Cape Town seeing more extreme storms due to climate change?
By Sabina Abba Omar & Stefaan Conradie A major cut-off low event is currently wrecking havoc across large parts of South Africa, most notably around Kariega. This follows another severe cut-off low storm that hit the Western Cape between 6 and 9 April 2024 after a series of destructive wind and rain storms between June… Read more »
Getting to know CASCADE
09 APRIL 2024 | PHOTO BY ROBYN WALKER. READ TIME 3 mins. The intersection of climate variability, extremes, and long-term change with rapid urbanisation, extensive informality, multi-level governance challenges, and resource constraints, constitutes a critical human health challenge in African cities. Yet a comprehensive and systemic understanding of the intersection of climate hazards and urban health risks is… Read more »
A new era of urban climate health resilience in Africa
30 NOVEMBER 2023 | STORY ALACIA ARMSTRONG. PHOTOS ROBYN WALKER. Read time 4 min. The Cascading Climate and Health Risks in African Cities (CASCADE) consortium was officially launched recently with a focused mission: to advance the understanding of critical urban health challenges faced by African cities and point towards practical and effective interventions. Led by Dr Chris Jack and Professor Bruce… Read more »
September closes out (for now?) extraordinary 2023 winter rainfall season
In early April, we posted a preliminary assessment of the remarkable series of rainfall events that affected the south-western Cape region from mid-February to late March. That turned out to be just the start of an extraordinarily long and intense rainfall season for the Winter Rainfall Zone. Arguably the most severe storm of the season… Read more »
Reflecting on the CSAG Short Course on Navigating Climate 2023
The short course on navigating climate risk is a CSAG annual winter tradition. It was therefore a huge disappointment that we were unable to present a course in 2022, and I was determined to make sure that 2023’s course was a success! After a grueling selection process, 17 participants were invited to join us for… Read more »
March 2023 rewrites Table Mountain rainfall record books
Summary An initial look at preliminary March 2023 rainfall data for Table Mountain suggests it was the wettest March in the instrumental record of the “Mountain in the Sea”, going back as far as 1893! This appears to have been mostly the result of four cut-off low systems forming along the west coast during the… Read more »
What do we mean by urban climate justice?
The concept of climate justice has been gaining traction for some time. Broadly speaking, climate justice is about taking a human- and equity-centred approach to thinking about climate risks, responsibilities and potential responses. Like many other big concepts, climate justice is often proposed as important for climate action without careful and critical thought about what… Read more »