The coronavirus pandemic has been a warning bell for urban resilience in South Africa. South African municipalities are facing unprecedented challenges in the face of Covid-19. On the one hand, municipalities have been at the forefront of dealing with the immediate effects of the crisis. On the other, they are facing additional and unexpected expenditure on public health responses, declining revenues due to the economic slowdown induced by lockdowns and restrictions to manage the spread of the virus, and reduced transfers from the national government.

The pandemic has brought urban food systems into sharp focus as well as pandemic-related challenges to managing public transport in our spatially unequal cities. More positively, it has afforded us an opportunity to think differently about our cities and towns, and planning for their future resilience by spotlighting solutions that can support an equitable and green recovery.
 
This publication, the third in WWF’s series of Lockdown Lessons, argues that we need immediate municipal Covid-responses, while making cities climate resilient, healthy and liveable for all.

This report makes the point that nature-based solutions offer opportunities that can address immediate social and environmental concerns while supporting long-term resilience to future climate impacts and shocks.  It shows that tree-based solutions provide cross-cutting socio-economic and environmental benefits.  However, large-scale implementation is hampered by barriers relating to the attribution of financial and economic benefits as well as procurement challenges.