[DEBATE] : CCS Seminar: Rehana Dada on community climate struggles, Monday, 11 May, 12:30-2

[Patrick Bond]

Join us at the University of KwaZulu-Natal Centre for Civil Society for 
a seminar about climate change, mitigation and adaptation in local 
communities

Seminar: "Communities coping with climate change"
Speaker: Rehana Dada, CCS
Date: Monday, 11 May 2009
Time: 12:30-2pm
Venue: CCS/SDS seminar room, Memorial Tower Building Room F208
University of KwaZulu-Natal Howard College Campus

Queries: poonenh at ukzn.ac.za or 031-260-3195

The world already feels the influence of human-caused climate change.  
Even if carbon emissions were reduced to point zero this afternoon, 
there will still be extreme impacts on human health and the ability to 
sustain livelihoods, particularly in Africa. It is enormously important 
to focus on mitigation to ensure that atmospheric carbon is kept low, 
but it is also crucial that the world begins to develop coping 
mechanisms for the many projected impacts. Adaptation to climate change 
would need to include such measures as seeking alternative crops or 
alternative farming methods for commercial farmers, altering development 
lines along the coast and changing industrial and domestic behaviour to 
be able to cope with reduced water availability. Adaptation will also 
need to focus on subsistence communities, where households rely directly 
on natural resources for at least part of their livelihoods.  For 
example, changing rainfall regimes will affect crop success or water 
availability, and biodiversity range shifts will affect access to wild 
food.  These rural communities who are least responsible for climate 
change will be among the most affected, but are currently also among the 
most ignored in planning around climate change.

Rehana Dada is an environment and science broadcast journalist with 
interests in climate change. She is working on a masters degree with the 
Centre for Civil Society, School of Development Studies, University of 
KwaZulu-Natal, where she co-edited the book Climate Change, Carbon 
Trading and Civil Society (UKZN Press, 2009): 
www.ukznpress.co.za/?class=bb_ukzn_books&method=view_books&global%5Bfields%5D%5B_id%5D=31