Climate change response policy is SA's roadmap: Molewa

South Africa has a clear roadmap on how to respond to the problem of climate change, said Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa at a media briefing on the National Climate Change Response Policy which was approved by Cabinet. Speaking in Pretoria, Molewa said that the policy would effectively manage inevitable climate change impacts.

Molewa added that the policy would also help to stabilise and reduce greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, in order to avoid dangerous interference with the climate system. "The policy notes that among a range of environmental constraints that [play] an [increasingly important] role in social and economic development planning, climate change represents the most urgent and far reaching challenge of our time," she said.

Molewa said the policy included a risk-based process that would identify and manage interventions, enabling priority sectors such as water, agriculture, forestry and health to adapt to climate change. "This policy will guide government's approach to climate change impacts and our transition to a climate-resilient and low-carbon economy," she concluded.

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