Project Objective/ Description: |
Taking the view that water is South Africa’s key resource, this implies the need to adapt the management of this resource progressively as global climate change progresses, in order to maintain optimal levels of both resource protection and beneficial use of water for society. To better plan for the future, the following objectives are therefore proposed:
- to develop plausible climate change scenarios for Southern Africa
- to investigate the potential impacts of climate change on hydrological responses and associated water resources
- to investigate possible water related socio-economic impacts in a designated Water Management Area
- to recommend appropriate strategies to adapt to, and cope with , water related impacts of potential climate change and
- to determine whether effects of climate change can already be detected and to recommend appropriate monitoring systems for its detection.
- Furthermore, two case studies identified vulnerabilities and adaptive capacities of, first, a small scale community of irrigation farmers at Mueden and second, large-scale commercial farmers both in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal.
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