Discussion of the complex contexts – the synergies and trade-offs in measures to tackle poverty, inequality and climate change – with an understanding that the trade-offs are inevitable (e.g. the effect of a carbon tax on the poor, job losses in the coal sector) but this policy can mitigate these. An ASSAf-led approach to 'force open' the political space (e.g. strategic use of opinion pieces).
18 SEPTEMBER 2018
HOW DO WE BUILD POVERTY AND EQUALITY CONCERNS INTO CLIMATE CHANGE? –
Prof Rashid Hassan (Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa (CEEPA), University of
In general, integrated assessment models lacked poverty and inequality indicators in their criteria for evaluating low-carbon development and climate stabilization scenarios. In South Africa's National Climate Change Response Policy, poverty and inequality appeared explicitly in both the goals and the approach and strategy, which was based on global and national climate science and policy research. The National Approach to Climate Mitigation was intended to contribute to global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stabilize the climate system; and to address the national challenges for development and poverty reduction.
Short-term regulatory and technological interventions and flagship programs with components intended to address the poverty and inequality concerns of proposed climate mitigation measures include the expanded public works programs including WfW and WoF. There were opportunities for both natural and social scientists, especially those who study poverty and inequality, to investigate the effects of climate change. Interdisciplinary research funding was a challenge because funding for poverty and inequality research came from sources unrelated to climate change, and little climate change funding was allocated to poverty and inequality research.
National statistical data should be exploited to find more appropriate indicators and measures of poverty and inequality, especially for internal assessments and impact monitoring. National household surveys needed to be assessed to determine what they currently covered and what was missing to support the analysis of the link between climate change and poverty and inequality.
Mr Hastings Chikoko (Regional Director, C40 Cities)
Prof Gina Ziervogel (UCT)
The FRACTAL project has shown that the science of climate change is difficult to integrate into decision-making. Urban decision-makers are aware of climate change, but they are also trying to address the immediate issues of poverty and inequality. While biophysical science has a key role to play in climate change work, building stronger relationships with those who understand poverty and inequality should be a priority.
But there seemed to be little understanding of the impact of these climate policies on poverty and inequality. Was this information available, or should it be included in the assessment of policies to combat climate change? In terms of the National Climate Change Response Strategy, the core elements were the short-term flagship programmes, particularly in terms of the shift to renewable energy sources and low-carbon options.
Dr Sutherland: Mr Chikoko's point about giving the poor a voice in climate change was critical, especially in the context of cities. Were cities open to the urban poor having more of a voice in how cities responded to climate change.
HOW DO WE BUILD CLIMATE CHANGE CONCERNS INTO SCIENCE ON POVERTY
Answer - Mr. Chikoko: In terms of including the voice of the poor in planning, C40 relied on two approaches: first, working with elected officials such as ward councilors who represented communities and were empowered to reach out to the poor; and secondly, working in partnership with community organizations or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that worked in those communities.
Prof Shankar Aswani (Rhodes University (RU))
Prof Aswani had been involved in participatory mapping in many parts of the developing world and his research had provided enormous insight into local understandings of climate change. Prof Aswani had published a paper in PloS One looking at a global assessment of indigenous knowledge. In this large-scale analysis of all work published to date, about 75% of all literature documented a net loss of indigenous knowledge.
Although people generate knowledge every day, research in the Solomon Islands, where people use mobile technology, found that in the last ten years there had been a 25-30% decrease in the ability of young people to name fish.
Prof Ben Cousins (Programme for Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), UWC) With respect to the extent to which biophysical and social scientists are addressing the
In urban areas, the effects of climate change may be less direct and thus more complex. This would likely be contested in local politics as well as by civil society groups actively challenging local authorities. Difficulties in developing shared frameworks often arose in relation to the less 'objective' aspects of society, such as culture, identity, discourse and narrative.
This implied a general attitude towards such inequality, but some natural and physical scientists were politically deeply conservative, justifying such differences by reference to the 'natural order'. A key issue in the rural economy was livestock production systems, as this was the most common form of land use in semi-arid environments. As William Bond (of the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON)) and others have suggested, climate change may enable large-scale forest encroachment as atmospheric carbon is sequestered by shrubs and trees.
Goats also survived droughts better than cattle; For example, during a drought in Msinga district, 30% of livestock died, but only 6% of goats. The main land use on redistributed farms was probably livestock farming, especially small livestock such as sheep and goats.
Prof Philani Moyo (University of Fort Hare (UFH))
He was brought to South Africa to build interdisciplinary programs, but found this impossible. There was no evidence that the UK's climate change units were working with what was probably the strongest quantitative poverty group in South Africa. While there were extensive debates in the mid-1990s about what should be done to construct policy, very little has emerged at present.
South Africa had had a chance between the Copenhagen and Durban meetings, but all this was overtaken by the terrible patronage of the years following Copenhagen. In large parts of the world, that resource has been completely destroyed - fished out and choked with plastic. The pollution of the Vaal river system and the situation in Sedibeng illustrated how much land had been lost since then.
Part of the reason why the government had failed to solve the land problem was that it had not thought about how to sustain a farming community in the agricultural sector and how to address food security. By the mid-1990s, decision-making had been strategic rather than principled, and this had continued, which was not the way policy should function.
19 SEPTEMBER 2018
PROF PHILIP HARRISON (WITS)
An analogy was made between the current challenges and the early stages of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and how researchers responded at that stage. Mr Manuel illustrated how South Africa was largely distracted from earlier moments of policy promise, but that there were also opportunities to regroup, such as around the New Climate Agenda. Pressure and incentives in the academic environment that argued against the co-production of policy were increased.
There had been a recognition that issues of adaptive governance and organization must be recognized as part of climate change science. The debate around growth in relation to climate change had been muddled by extremely high levels of unemployment and the desperate need for job creation. There had been an interesting discussion around scale and the continued separation between frameworks and policies on the one hand and lived experiences on the other.
There was a misconception that climate change science was limited to natural science; in fact, there has been considerable engagement in climate change science with other dimensions such as human vulnerability and adaptation, social issues and justice. There were no responses from the scientific community to say that this was the case.
Prof Kingsley Ayisi (Risk and Vulnerability Science Centre (RVSC), University of Limpopo (UL))
PANEL DISCUSSION: SYNERGY AND SERVICE IN ADDRESSING CLIMATE CHANGE IMPLEMENTATION AND ADAPTATION, AND THE CHALLENGES OF POVERTY AND INEQUALITY – FACILITATOR: PROF ROSEANNE DIAB (ASSAf).
Prof Harald Winkler (UCT)
It was important to establish good markets to drive agricultural value chain processes and improve the gains from the agricultural sector. The political question is how to reduce both inequality and CO2 emissions after this point. The rich must learn to live with less, and the aspirations of the middle class must change to live well rather than have more.
1 A process was needed to build a fundamentally interdisciplinary theoretical framework that was not merely similar (Winskel, 20186). 3 By focusing on innovative development paths, synergies had to be found in order to reduce both poverty-inequality and emissions. Pursuing interdisciplinary energy research in whole systems: Insights from the UK Energy Research Centre.
6 It should inform adaptive management, recognizing that the process was not linear and that no one was in charge (O'Brien and Selboe, 20158). 7 A new social contract had to be considered, based on the idea of living well rather than having more (Winkler et al., 20159).
Dr Catherine Sutherland (UKZN)
Working in transdisciplinary teams at UKZN, it became apparent that most of the work on climate change was influenced by socio-ecological systems thinking. Looking at the intersections between poverty, inequality and climate change can initiate a radical transformation and restructuring of the city to address both concerns. The poor and marginalized were most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, as were those in the lower levels of the middle class who were at risk of falling into poverty.
There had not been a single session on environmental economics, for example the effect of drought on poverty and inequality. It was important to think about other dimensions linked to the issue of climate change. If we are smart, many of the poverty and inequality challenges we are trying to solve can also benefit climate change.
Prof Diab: This point is very well taken; it was an oversight of the program committee. It may not even be the responsibility of the scientists to do this, but it was important to build specific requirements for this function into project applications.
83CLOSING STATEMENT – PROF PHILIP HARRISON (WITS)
ACRONYMS
SARS South African Revenue Service SDG Sustainable Development Goals SEA Strategic Environmental Assessment Statistics SA Statistics South Africa. SU Stellenbosch University UBPL Upper Limit Poverty Line UCT University of Cape Town UFH University of Fort Hare UJ University of Johannesburg.
Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)
