Tools & Atlases
| Type | Title | Host Organisation | Description | Applicability for climate change adaptation at local scale | Training available |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adaptation | GreenBook | CSIR | The Green Book is an online tool offering scientific evidence on climate change and urbanization impacts on South Africa's urban areas. It suggests adaptation actions for local governments to foster climate-resilient development. | Local risk profiles and tailored adaptation options | The team hosts a number of training courses across the country: https://greenbook.co.za/green-book-training.html |
| Adaptation | National Climate Change Response Database | DFFE | The National Climate Change Response Database (NCCRD) is intended as a resource to collect and track interventions on climate change (adaptation and mitigation) on past, current and future climate change response efforts (policies, plans, strategies, projects and research) across South Africa. | Track local adaptation and mitigation projects | DFFE led training events |
| Adaptation, Spatial Planning | Let's Respond Toolkit | DFFE | The Lets Respond Toolkit provides stakeholders with an introduction and overview on how to integrate climate change into municipal planning processes. | Offers a detailed guide for a Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment, including steps for engaging stakeholders in planning. Includes response plan templates for creating municipal climate change response plans, along with District Level Priority Indicators. | Training manual is available: https://letsrespondtoolkit.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Municipal-climate-finance-training-guideline.pdf |
| Agriculture | Smallholder Decision Support System | Water Research Commission | This tool was designed as process to assist farmers to decide which climate resilient agriculture practices would be more suitable for them. | This process utilizes your location, agro ecological zone, and details like rainfall, temperature, slope, soil type, and farming practices. It then recommends optimal options for gardening, field cropping, livestock, and natural resource management. | |
| Air Quality | SAAQIS | DFFE | SAAQIS is a unified platform in South Africa for managing air quality information, ensuring consistency in capturing, storing, validating, analyzing, and reporting data to stakeholders, including the public. | SAAQIS gathers air quality data from monitoring stations across South Africa, covering pollutants like PM10, PM2.5, NO2, SO2, O3, CO, and more. | |
| Biodiversity | ELSAA Webtool South Africa | UN | The Essential Life Support Areas (ELSA) tool on UN Biodiversity Lab (UNBL) enables any UNBL workspace user to rapidly identify essential life support areas for their country based on global priorities and data. It is currently available as a proof of concept for Colombia, Costa Rica, and South Africa. | This tool assists with mapping biodiversity hotspots, facilitating conservation planning, and supporting informed decision-making on land use. It helps communities monitor and assess changes in biodiversity, manage resources sustainably, and serves as an educational resource for raising awareness and advocacy. | |
| Biodiversity | UN Biodiversity Lab | UN | The UN Biodiversity Lab (UNBL) supports countries in using spatial data for conservation and sustainable development. Our mission: democratize access, assist decision-makers, and empower stakeholders for nationally-led monitoring. | Open access to biodiversity data | |
| Biodiversity | Protected Areas Register | DFFE | This register, developed in 2012 for reporting and mapping purposes, contains a comprehensive list of protected areas, specifying their types and additional information as determined by the Minister. | The database comprises of all data required for the Register of Protected Areas as well as data on Conservation Areas. | |
| Biodiversity | Biodiversity GIS | SANBI | BGIS is a central hub for biodiversity planning and related information, managing spatial data like the National Biodiversity Assessment (NBA) terrestrial threatened ecosystem data. The user-friendly mapping platform enables visualization of key biodiversity features, allowing users to add, toggle layers, annotate, and print maps. | Freely downloadable biodiversity-related spatial datasets. | SANBI offers ad hoc training workshops |
| Coastal Zone | DEA Coastal Viewer | DFFE | The Coastal Viewer provides public access to spatial data on the Coastal Zone, sourced from custodians. It supports informed decision-making for sustainable use of coastal resources, aligning with South Africa's National Coastal Management Programme. | Open access to data and information for coastal areas such as pollution (e.g. oil spills) | |
| Data | South African Risk and Vulnerability Atlas | SAEON | The South African Risk and Vulnerability Atlas offers live web mapping, static maps, reports, and analysis tools to enhance understanding of global change impacts. It provides easy access to data from different research institutes for local-level planning. | Facilitates the discovery of risk and vulnerability data across various sectors at the local scale | GIS and python training available |
| Data | Climate Change Knowledge Portal | World Bank | Explore historical and projected climate data, climate data by sector, impacts, key vulnerabilities and what adaptation measures are being taken. | Provides an overview of the evidence for climate change in South Africa and future projections in an understandable manner | |
| Data | Climate Information Portal (CIP) | CSAG - UCT | The Climate Information Portal (CIP) merges a climate database with guidance documentation in a user-friendly interface. It combines observational climate data, future climate projections, and extensive guidance to facilitate effective use, interpretation, and informed actions. | Historical climate information and future projections. Data is not up to date: Historical data ends in 2011 with projections based on CMIP5. | |
| Data | ClimateServ | SERVIR | ClimateSERV enables users to easily visualize and download 180-day rainfall and temperature forecasts, as well as historic rainfall and vegetation conditions. | Indicated in the AN survey that it is being used | |
| Data | South African Weather Service | SAWS | PDF reports of recent climate conditions at daily and monthly time-scale | PDF reports of recent climate conditions at daily and monthly time-scale | |
| Data | South African Weather Service | SAWS | SAWS Product Catalogue | Freely available SAWS data | |
| Data | Global Risk Data Platform | UNEP | PREVIEW shares global risk data on natural hazards, allowing users to access information on past events, human and economic exposure, and risks associated with various phenomena. | Locations of previous events such as fires, floods, landslides | |
| Data | NDMC Disaster Atlas | NDMC | The purpose of the Disaster Atlas Application is to be able to view historic records of declared or gazetted disasters (2006-2017) | Provide spatial extent of historical declared disasters. Note this data is out of date and that only declared disasters are included in this data | |
| Disasters | ThinkHazard! | GFDRR | ThinkHazard! flags hazards in an area, indicating the level of awareness needed for each. It also offers guidance on risk reduction within the project area. | District level data on the presence and classification of climate hazards (low, medium, high) | |
| Early warning | African Flood and Drought Monitor | Princeton Climate Institute | System for early warning of flood and drought across the continent | Provides detailed information on soil moisture, drought, rainfall, runoff and evapotranspiration as well as short-term forecasts, and seasonal forecasts | |
| Early Warning | Advanced Fire Information System (AFIS) | CSIR | AFIS is a near real time operational satellite fire monitoring system that provides information regarding the prediction, detection and assessment of fires. | Near real time information on fires. The mobile app provides fire managers, farmers and disaster personnel with a tool on their smart devices to receive information regarding the prediction, detection, monitoring and assessment of wildfires. | |
| Early warning | Daily Fire Index Early Warning System | NDMC | Spatially represents daily Fire Danger Index values as and when issued by SAWS. | Provides the Fire Danger Index value and prediction for the next 5 days on a Local Municipal level. | |
| Early warning | Impact Based Early Warning System | NDMC | Web Service displays near real-time warnings across South Africa from SAWS spatially. Data Source: FTP from SAWS near real-time | Provides District Municipality early warnings that include geographical vulnerability in the forecast notices in order to assist in the planning for severe weather impacts. Note: only developed for pilot areas so far | |
| Early warning | International GDACS Early Warning System | NDMC | Spatially represents near real-time international warnings. Data Source: Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System | Access to local scale near real-time warnings | |
| Early warning | NJDCC Drought Monitoring Dashboard | NDMC | Spatially represents monthly drought observations as depicted by Standard Precipitation Index (SPI). Data Source: Agricultural Research Council (ARC) | Access to data on drought conditions across the country | |
| Early warning | Global Drought Information System | NOAA | The Global Drought Monitor assesses worldwide drought conditions using continent-specific inputs, providing a comprehensive view. Global drought indices and indicators supplement the assessment. | Provides various measures of drought conditions | |
| Early warning | FlowTracker App | AWARD | The Olifants River Flow Tracker allows near real-time monitoring of flow and dams, with a weather forecast feature. It uses AI and ML to analyze vast data from 300+ satellites, 11,000+ sensors, and other global emission sources, enhancing catchment awareness for residents. | For those located near Olifants river they can get information on real-time flows on their mobile phone | |
| Guideline | Participatory Assessment of Climate and Disaster Risks | Brot für die Welt | The Participatory Assessment of Climate and Disaster Risks (PACDR) tool consists of seven modules that build upon each other to enable users to systematically integrate the consideration of climate and disaster risks into community planning and development. | Empowering communities with a sense of ownership and control over their adaptation efforts not only increases motivation and commitment to sustainable practices but also facilitates collaboration and knowledge-sharing among community members, promoting a collective approach to climate resilience. | Training materials are available here: https://weadapt.org/knowledge-base/climate-adaptation-training/pacdr-tool/ |
| Guideline | Indigo Climate Diaries | Indigo development & change | Participatory tool empowering individuals with control over their weather data. For five years, the Suid Bokkeveld community has utilized climate diaries to monitor farm micro-climates, recording weekly maximum and minimum temperatures, daily rainfall, and additional weather observations. | By self-monitoring and recording weather data, they create a comparative record, fostering reflection on past events and enhancing their nuanced understanding of how weather impacts their livelihoods. | |
| Guideline | National Climate Risk & Vulnerability (CRV) Assessment Framework | DFFE | The framework is intended to provide guidance on what to consider when undertaking climate risk and vulnerability assessments within diverse South African contexts in order to enable alignment, comparison, and aggregation between them and work towards an effective climate adaptation response across scales. | The document provides guidelines on how to use participatory methods at a community scale to draw on indigenous knowledge to assess socio-ecological vulnerability. | |
| Human Health | HST Health Indicators Tool | HST | The Health Systems Trust Indicator Tool presents the best available data on a wide range of health and related indicators from multiple years. | Provide health planners and managers with easy access to data from a variety of sources. | |
| Land cover change | Carbon Sinks Atlas | DFFE | The National Terrestrial Carbon Sinks Assessment (NTCSA) aims to understand carbon distribution, identify mitigation opportunities, and review policies for sustainable land management in response to climate change. | District and local municipality data on changes in carbon stocks and land cover | |
| Land cover change | Global Forest Watch | World Resources Institute | Global Forest Watch is an open-source web application to monitor global forests in near real-time. | Provides detailed district level information on tree cover loss | |
| Mitigation | Climate TRACE | Climate TRACE | Climate TRACE, a non-profit coalition, utilizes AI and ML to create an accessible inventory of global greenhouse gas emissions. The tool analyzes vast data, including 90 trillion bytes from 300+ satellites, 11,000+ sensors, and various other sources worldwide. | Provides local level information on the sources of GHG emissions and ranking of those emission sources. | |
| Spatial Planning | National Environmental Screening Tool | DFFE | The Environmental Screening Tool is a web-based application enabling proponents seeking environmental authorization to pre-screen their proposed sites for environmental sensitivity under the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations (2014). | The screening tool maps sensitivities based on chosen environmental layers (e.g., Agriculture theme's Field Crop Boundaries). It generates reports summarizing area sensitivities. The freely accessible tool enables the public to explore environmental sensitivities across South Africa. | |
| Water Management | Freshwater Biodiversity Information System | Freshwater Research Centre (FRC) | FBIS is an open-access, online platform for serving, hosting, analyzing, visualising and sharing freshwater biodiversity data in South Africa. The overall purpose of the platform is to support data-driven freshwater decision-making and management in South Africa. | Local scale information on freshwater biodiversity and various risks such as algae and pesticide risk | Training videos are available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYFi0y8oOnU |
| Water Management | Mine Water Atlas | WRC | The South African Mine Water Atlas is a comprehensive reference on the vulnerability of water resources to mining activity in South Africa. It shows the critical interplay between mining and water resources and is the most extensive set of documents of its kind. | Local scale information on the vulnerability of water sources and groundwater to mining activities | |
| Water Management | National Integrated Water Information System | DWS | The National Integrated Water Information System (NIWIS) was developed by the Department of Water and Sanitation with the purpose of providing information products, in the form of dashboards, to facilitate efficient analysis and reporting across the water value chain in South Africa. | Provincial level information on climate, sanitation services, water quality and quantity, drought, groundwater, rainfall, runoff status. |