Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Water Affairs

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• Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Water
  Affairs Forestry
• November 2005
• Climate Change and Water Resources Management
• Bill Rowlston
• Water Affairs Forestry, Pretoria

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Statements from the National Climate Change
Conference

• There is compelling scientific evidence that
  climate change is a reality
• The poor will be affected most
• Climate change poses possibly the single largest
  long-term threat to poverty eradication efforts
  in Africa, and threatens to undo decades of
  development efforts (Poverty and Climate Change,
  African Development Bank, 2003)
• Our responses to climate change must be informed
  by best available science
• We need to broaden and deepen our knowledge base
  to facilitate
• Scenario development
• Prediction and early-warning systems
• Disaster management
• Mitigation
• Adaptation

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Climate change and water resources (1)

• Our climate is already highly variable in space
  and time, and our water resources reflect climate
  variability
• Our water policy, law and strategy provide
  flexibility to deal with climate variability
• However, we rely on information from research
  into the effects of climate change to guide
  implementation at operational scale (quaternary
  catchment?) -
• What will the magnitude of the effects be?
• Where will the effects occur
• Where will they be most severe?
• When will they occur?
• Can we detect the effects within normal
  variability?

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Climate change and water resources (2)

• From Minister Sonjicas Keynote Address -
• In developing a water sector action plan in terms
  of the National Climate Change Response Strategy
  we will need to -
• Put increased emphasis on water conservation and
  water demand management
• Develop water resources where necessary
• Investigate alternative water sources such as
  desalination
• Ensure that the design and implementation of the
  water allocation reform process takes account of
  climate change considerations
• Ensure that water institutions (CMAs, WUAs) are
  aware of the implications of climate change, and
  able to inform and advise water users and
  stakeholders
• Continued

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Climate change and water resources (3)

• From Minister Sonjicas Keynote Address
  (continued) -
• In developing a water sector action plan in terms
  of the National Climate Change Response Strategy
  we will need to -
• Be prepared, in the light of changes to the flow
  regimes of our rivers, to review and amend where
  necessary -
• The way we operate our dams
• The quantification of the Ecological Reserve
• The quantification of our international water
  sharing agreements
• Ensure that we adopt an integrated,
  inter-sectoral approach to managing the effects
  of climate change
• Above all, we must put the poor and vulnerable at
  the forefront of all our endeavours