GEORGE NEWS - The annual Garden Route Environmental Forum (GREF) Climate Change and Environmental Management Indaba was held on Thursday 27 June at the Nelson Mandela University George Campus.

Presentations by provincial and national government, climate change predictive modelling specialists, regional biosphere reserves, CapeNature and significant others under the theme 'Resilience in action: Building sustainable communities amid a changing climate' reflected on what the future may hold for the Southern Cape with an unpredictable climate.

GREF convener Cobus Meiring said the Garden Route is a disaster prone area and increasingly falls victim to severe flooding, wild fire catastrophes, drought and storm surges. 

"As a direct result, damage to hard infrastructure such as roads are extremely costly to repair and has significant downstream implications when logistics are disrupted and communities are forced to use detours."

Disaster management practitioners Colin Deiner (chief director: Western Cape Disaster Management) and Gerhard Otto (head: GRDM Disaster Management Centre) made comprehensive presentations showing the extent of the damage incurred by natural disasters in the Western Cape in the past decade. 

Repair costs run into millions of Rand and are set to increase as climate change impacts on the environment and the populations dependent on its wellbeing.

"Proactive planning and forward thinking and the ability to deal with climate-related natural disasters are all important. Disaster management entities are constantly investing in better equipment, capacity and resources to be able to lend assistance when disaster strikes. 

"Early warning systems play a vital role in ensuring the safety of communities who are encouraged to pay attention when advisories are sent out when, for example, approaching storms are detected, especially given that their severity cannot always be accurately be determined in advance," said Meiring.

The GREF is a climate change thinktank and public platform for environmental managers to share knowledge and experience.