ABSTRACT
Abstract: Durban surrounds a natural estuarine bay and over the last 150 years has developed into one of the top three port cities in the southern hemisphere. With a population of approximately 3.6 million, one of the most pressing sustainability challenges facing the city is the need to meet developmental aspirations, while still ensuring the protection and management of the natural resource base. The city has a diverse society which faces a complex mix of social, economic, environmental, and governance challenges. Among these challenges are high levels of unemployment, poverty, and the HIV/AIDS pandemic that make communities particularly vulnerable. This vulnerability will be exacerbated under projected climate change conditions, as will the risk facing other key sectors such as water and food security, infrastructure provision and maintenance, health services, and disaster management. In order to respond to the multiple challenges of climate change, a Municipal Climate Protection Programme (MCPP) was initiated in 2004. Work done within the program has looked to identify the developmental risk posed to the city by existing climate variability and incremental climate change and to address the possible impacts of climate change through a number of targeted and programmatic interventions aimed at improving the overall resilience of the city. This chapter describes the approaches, challenges, and lessons learnt in Durban during the development and implementation of the MCPP and reects on the possible way forward in terms of the further development of the program. The lessons learnt in Durban are applicable to similar third world cities struggling with high levels of unemployment, poverty, and the HIV/AIDS pandemic as well as having to deal with an exposed high energy coastline.
