BOKAMOSO | Tragic KZN floods are a call to action on climate breakdown
28 April 2019
The tragic floods that have taken the lives of 85 people in KZN should not be seen in isolation. Together with the drought in the Western Cape, the wildfires on the Garden Route and the intense tropical cyclones Idai and Kenneth that have hit Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, they are part of a bigger picture of climate breakdown.
They are red flags we ignore at our peril, dots we can’t afford not to join. It is no longer disputed that the growing intensity and frequency of these “natural” disasters is due to the increased levels of carbon in our atmosphere due to our over-reliance on fossil fuels. The resulting greenhouse effect is growing ever stronger, the effects ever more deadly.
The world’s leading climate scientists have warned we humans have only twelve years to avoid catastrophe. We have just a dozen years to limit average global warming to a maximum of 1.5C, beyond which further warming will trigger runaway climate breakdown from which there will be no coming back.
Urgent and unprecedented changes are needed at the systemic level. This is our only choice: change our systems or change our climate. Governments must take the lead in driving the system changes we need – both to minimise climate disruption and to build resilience into our water, energy, food and infrastructure systems.