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Articles on Cape Town drought

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Alien trees threaten biodiversity, increase the risk of wildfires and also guzzle water. Photo courtesy Cape Winelands Biosphere Reserve

Removing alien plants can save water: we measured how much

Clearing alien trees from mountain catchments is a more cost-effective approach to providing water than building and maintaining desalination plants.
Alien pine trees, which use substantially more water than the native vegetation of the Cape Mountains, reduce river flows to dams that supply the city’s water. Martin Kleynhans

Clearing alien trees can help reduce climate change impact on Cape Town’s water supply

Clearing alien trees before the drought hit could have reduced the impact of climate change on water supply during the ‘Day Zero’ drought.
Cape Town residents queueing to refill water containers at the Newlands Brewery Spring Water Point in January 2018. GettyImages

Dimming the sun could reduce future drought risk in Cape Town – but there’s a catch

Artificially dimming the sun, by injecting reflective particles into the upper atmosphere, could reduce the risk of Day Zero level droughts in Cape Town by more than 90% in the future.
Fynbos, the biodiverse shrubland in Cape Town, is thought to have the third highest carbon stored per square metre for any biome in South Africa. It must be protected. Shutterstock

Cape Town’s climate strategy isn’t perfect, but every African city should have one

Cape Town’s new climate strategy is a good start. But it falls short when it comes to nature.

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