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Climate Change and Water Resources in Southern Africa: A Resilience Perspective

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The Palgrave Handbook of Climate Resilient Societies

Abstract

This chapter offers readers contemporary knowledge on how water professionals and various levels of government have attempted to deal with the impacts of climate change on water resources in Southern Africa. It discusses how water professionals and governments have implemented innovative climate resilient policies and actions in an attempt to build climate resilient water management. The chapter addresses the socio-technical and governance aspects of climate resilient water management that raise fundamental questions about human behavior and the roles of government. It is argued that climate resilient water management is primarily concerned with the management of societal risks associated with water resources. The chapter describes how these efforts of trying to build climate resilience have been implemented through a regional economic community known as the Southern African Development Community (SADC). In so doing, the chapter provides an account of how the SADC has been implementing programs to strengthen the capacity of regional countries to undertake climate change adaptation and mitigation interventions. To explore how the SADC member states are planning for and implementing this program and other related climate change related activities in the water sector, the chapter focuses on two case study countries: South Africa and Zambia. From the two case studies, it is clear that the building of climate resilient societies through effective water management requires timely responses to demands placed on scarce water resources. Successful climate change mitigation and adaptation depend on the capacity of water management agencies to process information on a time scale appropriate to issues at hand. In the context of Southern Africa, issues of organizational preparedness and response time will be central.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Academy of Sciences (“NAS”) in the USA and the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa. The author would also like to thank the Wold Wide Fund for Nature (Zambia Country Office) for their support through the Upper Zambezi Programme

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  1. Water Research Centre, The Independent Institute of Education, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Bimo Nkhata

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  1. Bimo Nkhata
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Nkhata, B. (2020). Climate Change and Water Resources in Southern Africa: A Resilience Perspective. In: The Palgrave Handbook of Climate Resilient Societies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32811-5_98-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32811-5_98-1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-32811-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-32811-5

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