International delegates head to Jeffreys Bay for climate change talks
It is all systems go for the first international climate change partnership to be hosted in the Kouga region.
Set to take place in Jeffreys Bay from October 9 to October 11, the workshop will bring together more than 100 delegates from nine countries to discuss how municipalities can help minimise the harmful impact of climate change on communities.
“We are very honoured to have been chosen to host the workshop and look forward to three days of fruitful engagement with our counterparts from across the globe,” said Kouga Executive Mayor Horatio Hendricks.
“The Kouga region has not been immune to the negative impact of climate change. We are facing one of the worst droughts in recorded history while rising ocean levels have led to widescale beach erosion in our coastal towns.
“The prolonged drought not only threatens water security for our communities, but it also affects key local industries such as agriculture where jobs have already had to be shed.”
He said the workshop was a continuation of Kouga’s climate change partnership with the German municipality Ilsfeld.
“Other German municipalities have formed similar partnerships with municipalities in Africa and South America. It is 12 of these German municipalities and their partners that will be in attendance,” he explained.
The other participating countries are Burkina Faso, Ecuador, Namibia, Nicaragua, Peru, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.
Hendricks said the main purpose of the workshop was for the partner municipalities to present and discuss the action plans they have been working on jointly for the past two years.
The workshop will include a talk by Dr Peter Johnston, a climate scientist from the University of Cape Town, on the role municipalities play in climate mitigation.
The delegates will also undertake site visits, including a mass tree-planting ceremony at the Kruisfontein Multisport Complex in Humansdorp.