The post Launch of the People’s Plan to the Right to Housing in an Age of Climate Change appeared first on groundWork.
DATE: 28 November 202
Launch of the People’s Plan to the Right to Housing in an Age of Climate Change
Durban: Thursday 28th November sees the launch of the People’s Plan to the Right to Housing in the Age of Climate Change hosted by the Chief Strategy Officer of eThekwini Municipality, Mr Bongumusa and the Durban Coalition at the Durban Botanic Gardens.
In the past few years, the city of Durban has experienced increased severe weather events due to climate change. Floods have resulted in lost lives and extensive damage to urban infrastructure. In April 2022, 461 people lost their lives over 3 days. The resultant infrastructure collapse rendered our rivers and ocean unfit for human use. The lack of maintenance to key public infrastructure (sewage, water, roads and electricity) compounded the destruction experienced in the floods. Almost two years later, slow infrastructure repair continues to impact on people across the city, especially the most marginalised people. This has revealed a dire lack of planning and capacity within the city to respond to climate change disasters.
Against this backdrop, and in response to these climate and human induced disasters, a coalition of civil society, civic structures and social movements formed in May 2022. The Durban Coalition is a growing collective of civil society (NGOs, CBOs, university academics and social movements) and civic structures (ratepayers and residents associations) in eThekwini. As a non-politically aligned group, the Durban Coalition has committed to work collectively and in solidarity to build a united and co-ordinated participatory civil society movement to strengthen civic structures on the ground. It also engages constructively with local and other spheres of government to respond to social and environmental justice issues.
“The consequences of climate change are no longer an abstract future event,” says Dr Kira Erwin of groundWork, Friends of the Earth South Africa, “the severe weather we experience, including floods, storms, heatwaves and drought, pose significant threats to all life in the city, including to animals and plants. A lack of political will to meet climate targets from all nation states means that we must refocus our efforts to find ways to survive on a planet that overshoots a 1.5° Celsius increase in global temperature.”
In response to this situation, Durban Coalition has developed a programme of action towards transforming the city into a more just, inclusive and climate resilient place to live. Through a participatory and grounded planning process, across different urban sectors and class positions, the coalition has collectively produced a bottom-up development plan for the Right to Housing in the Age of Climate Change.
Addressing climate change requires integrated planning through participatory and democratic methods. This People’s Plan for the Right to Housing in an Age of Climate Change offers a clear programme-based implementation guide for the municipality and civil society partners to prepare the city to live through severe weather events and protect people’s right to housing and a healthy environment, especially for the most marginalised. Developed over 18-months the People’s Plan involved a broad ground-truthing exercise to test it with constituencies and partners of all member organisations in the Durban Coalition. The People’s Plan has innovative programmes on, amongst others, technical norms and standards for climate resilience, community disaster management planning, security of tenure, and new governance arrangements.
“A Just Transition in South Africa must include participatory resilience planning premised on environmental justice principles that address marginalization and inequality in the city,” says Dr Kira Erwin.
….ends…
Peoples Plan Links:
English version:
IsiZulu version:
Media Contacts:
groundWork: Tsepang Molefe +27 74 405 1257 media@groundwork.org.za
The Durban Coalition: Thalia Erwin +27 83 480 0635 thedurbancoalition@gmail.com
Durban Coalition Spokespersons:
S’bu Zikode (President of Abahlali baseMjondolo)
Kira Erwin (groundWork)
Vusi Zweni (Chairperson of Ubunye bamaHostela)
Nicole Daniels (Springfield Disaster Management)
