dc.description.abstract | The alignment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with national development
agendas has gained traction since the ratification of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development in September 2015. This article investigates how South Africa has aligned the
climate action SDG (SDG 13) with its national development agenda, with an emphasis on
adaptation policies and institutional framework. This comes against a background where the
country has been accused of bias towards mitigation policies that were trigged by the
Long-Term Mitigation Scenarios in 2007, which could have quickened mitigation responses
to SDG 13. The data were generated through the use of three key methods, namely key
informant interviews (n = 21), an online survey uploaded on an online platform called
QuestionPro and a realised sample of 103 completed surveys. Furthermore, relevant policy
documents were analysed from a critical discourse perspective. It emerged that South Africa
has policies and strategies in place to respond to climate change adaptation within the context
of SDG 13. However, while policies are in place, they have not translated to real change on the
ground and therefore have not enabled the country to have adequate climate change resilience.
The policies have not been translated into concrete actions; there are knowledge gaps in
adaptation, poor leadership and lack of clear vision for adaptation and poor coordination.
Institutions are scattered, with uneven capacity across sectors and different spheres of
government; and weakest at the local government level. It also emerged that mitigation was
prioritised for a while over adaptation, with a lack of funding and general awareness. The
study recommends that adaptation measures should not be undertaken in isolation, instead, it
should be addressed within the context of other programmes such as disaster risk management
and sustainable development. | en_US |