eThekwini (South Africa): a unique approach to natural hazard prevention

(cover picture: Andrew Mather, AIVP Conference , Durban, 2014 © AIVP) The municipality of eThekwini (South Africa) consists of several municipalities, including Durban, which is world famous for the 2011 climate summit. This major port city also hosted AIVP World Conference in 2014. Adaptation to climate change is now Goal n°1 of our association's Agenda 2030. In this case, eThekwini municipality is facing major climate challenges and its policies in this area are unique in Africa. That is why we interviewed Dr Andrew Mather, Project Executive in Coastal Policy, at eThekwini Municipality. eThekwini municipality has been an active member of AIVP since 2002. Protecting coastlines against submersion AIVP - Durban is at the forefront of climate change adaptation. It was one of the first African cities to develop a climate change strategy. This is all the more necessary as marine flooding could become a serious threat to the Durban waterfront.How do you manage climate risks, especially in coastal areas? Dr Andrew Mather, Project Executive in Coastal Policy, eThekwini municipality - Inclusivity, the integration of mitigation and adaptation response, effective governance and monitoring and evaluation, and ecological infrastructure as the basis of climate protection are the key principles.The city has been proactive in identify the regional sea level rise rates and from this the likely future impacts under a range of scenarios. These scenarios are been used to: (1) determine the risk to new developments;(2) the risk to current development;(3) the options of defend, retreat or accommodate.While we live on an exposed, high energy coastline we have a relative steep bathymetric profile and so predicted shoreline retreat is relative narrow. That said, we…