​28-01-2014: Joburg builds sustainable communities that will weather climate change

Johannesburg is already experiencing the impact of climate changes by frequent flooding, drought, heat waves and extreme hail storms.
Climate change is anticipated to increase the population migration into Johannesburg as people face natural resource scarcity and the collapse of agricultural livelihoods due to rising temperatures and extreme weather conditions. A projected increase in the City of Johannesburg's (CoJ) population (that is not purely as a result of population growth) will put additional strain on the city's infrastructure and resources. Considering that climate conditions are becoming more unpredictable in future, Joburg's strategies in adapting to climate change, take cognisance of scarce natural resources and impacts on human settlements.

The City is planning to build more integrated and liveable communities through "Corridors of Freedom" to redress the apartheid spatial planning, address the rising population, to address poverty, inequality, social exclusion and underdevelopment. Through these "Corridors of Freedom" the City's leadership hopes to stitch the City together to create a new urban future.

As the City gears up to host the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group Mayors Summit on 4 to 6 February 2014, it further recognises the need to be more resource efficient and smarter in the way it will deliver these services whilst reducing the carbon footprint with sustainable green practices, technologies and efficiencies. These communities will have access to green transportation through the Rea Vaya BRT, energy efficient buildings including solar geysers, insulated ceilings and energy saving light bulbs. The "complete streets" concept will be implemented which encourages eco-mobility (pedestrian lanes and cycling lanes) as well as landscaped sidewalks, green parks and green spaces.

The City has already insulated ceilings, and installed compact fluorescent lamps and solar water heaters for low-income households. In Cosmo City it installed 940 solar water heaters and 26,850 in other low-income areas. Rain harvesting tanks were installed in various areas with community green education and awareness campaigns such as tree planting.

Johannesburg's Executive Mayor Councillor Mpho Parks Tau stresses, "The choices we make today will determine the future of our city, our country and our planet. That's why the City is working towards building sustainable communities that are climate-proofed, and have access to basic services and economic opportunities."

These goals are embodied in the Joburg GDS 2040 Strategy which aims to create a city that is resilient, sustainable and liveable - where all citizens have access to electricity, clean water, sanitation, food, fresh air, education, health and meaningful employment.

To manage climate change, Joburg aims to strengthen the adaptive capacity of the City and its citizens, to become more resilient to potential and unpredictable future climatic conditions the city may face.

The City of Johannesburg urges communities to start adapting their choices to help reduce climate change. These could include:

• Gearing up homes to be green, by installing solar geysers and energy efficient light bulbs.

• Buying more locally grown food, or growing food gardens with organically produced vegetables and selling to those living in the community nearby. Buying locally-grown food not only helps improve local economies, it saves significant amounts of energy and is usually much fresher.

• Separating waste at source and recycling waste as as it reduces energy usage and keeps excess waste out of municipal landfills.

By proactively adapting new behaviour communities can collectively respond to climate change in a positive way.

For further information on C40 Cities Mayors Summit, please visit http://c40summitjohannesburg.org/

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Issued on behalf of City of Joburg

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C40 Cities Mayors Summit Boilerplate:

From Tuesday the 4th to Thursday the 6th of February 2014, the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) will be proudly hosting the fifth biennial C40 Cities Mayors Summit - the first time the event will be taking place in Africa. Only three other African cities are part of C40 namely Cairo, Lagos and Addis Abba.

The Summit is delivered by the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) Cities Program, and will be co-hosted by the Executive Mayor of City of Johannesburg Councillor Mpho Parks Tau and former Mayor of New York City and Chair of C40, Michael Bloomberg. The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) is a network of large and engaged cities from around the world, committed to implementing meaningful and sustainable global climate-related actions that generate measurable reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate risks.

The theme of the 2014 C40 Cities Mayors Summit is 'Towards resilient and liveable megacities - demonstrating action, impact and opportunity'.

Mayors and senior city officials from over 63 leading cities around the world, will come together to discuss the climate change challenges facing their cities, and share insights based on the actions they've taken to reduce GHG emissions. Around 700 urban and climate change leaders will join them in a series of roundtable discussions and working sessions to focus on the themes of resilient and liveable megacities, GHG measurement and adaptation, and impact and opportunity. While cities only occupy 2% of the Earth's landmass, they contain over 50% of the world's population, use two-thirds of its energy and generate over 70% of global CO2 emissions. With 90% of the world's urban areas situated on coastlines, cities are at high risk from some of the climate change impacts, such as rising sea levels and powerful coastal storms.

Hosting the event will be a historic moment for Johannesburg, South Africa, and the African continent which is clear recognition of the growing role that South Africa plays in finding solutions to the most pressing issues facing the globe. During the Summit, Joburg will demonstrate its current actions towards climate resilience with great environmental sustainability impacts through initiatives including:

• Sustainable Communities: Schools Climate Proofing

• Green Transportation: Rea Vaya - BRT

• Integrated Waste Management: Separation at Source

• Water Management: Lanseria Reservoir - Johannesburg Water SOC's project of constructing a new 20ML water reservoir and a 1.2ML water tower in Lanseria with a value of R39.5 Million

Joburg is a world-class events destination and a progressive entity with strong and competent leadership who is passionate about actualising environmental sustainability across all its regions.