Access to freshwater supply to South Africa would decline.
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International Panel of Climate Change Report
- IPCC Fourth Assessment Report 4.01 MB pdf
The most obvious impacts of climate change worldwide would be extreme weather events occuring more frequently and becoming more severe.
Higher rates of evaporation due to higher temperatures would lead to more severe drought on the one side of the planetary water cycle; and more severe floods on the other.In South Africa, the rise in average temperatures would cause malaria to spread to higher elevations with disastrous effects. In addition to this the western side of the country would become drier and the eastern side wetter, which has economic implications:
- Freshwater supply: access to freshwater resources in South Africa would decline
- Agriculture: wine, fruit and wheat farmers in the Western Cape all run a significant risk from hotter, drier climate
- Biodiversity: the heart of the country’s key tourism sector, a national treasure, would come under threat.
The impacts of climate change are described in detail in the Fourth Assessment Report prepared by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).