Unravelling the Social and Economic Consequences of Climate Change on Sustainable Livelihoods on Coastal Communities in South Africa

Abstract

Coastal regions are vital to numerous local economies and the national development of countries globally, including South Africa, due to their significant contributions to job creation, marine transportation, offshore drilling, resource extraction, fish cultivation, recreation and tourism. Despite these contributions to the coastal regions, the coastal communities are threatened by climate change in the form of sea level rise, floods, pollution, coastal erosion, changes to shorelines, extensive damage to critical infrastructure and destruction of coastal livelihoods. While these threats are increasingly hard to overlook, many governments and local administrators, including South Africa, have yet to prepare or implement strategies to meet these menaces adequately. Using mixed method approach of qualitative and quantitative, and extensive literature reviews, this paper explores the consequences of climate change on coastal livelihoods in South Africa. Our findings established that the country's coastal areas are under severe threats with high risks of submergence of floods, saltwater intrusion into surface and groundwater, increased erosion and overwhelmingly negative social and economic repercussions. This paper recommends a higher sense of urgency in addressing climate change threats and a much stronger implementation framework in climate change governance in the country, especially in the coastal zones.