The dire consequences of climate change are revealing themselves every day across the world. The 2022 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change sixth assessment report has reinforced that, unless urgent action is taken, our collective futures are under threat.
However, the master plan does not elaborate on how this will be achieved. Rather, it leaves the responsibility with the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, and commodity organisations, to promote climate change adaptation and mitigation initiatives. Time might prove this approach to be unwise. A challenge of this magnitude cannot be managed in silos; the plethora of existing policies at multiple levels requires a more holistic approach.
In the short term, we also need a new approach to disaster management. Natural disasters as a consequence of extreme weather occurrences are indisputably on the rise. Weak and unsustainable infrastructure, poverty, insufficient developmental funding, weak public policy, lack of information, corruption and uncoordinated management efforts aggravate the devastating consequences of natural disasters.