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
Academic research can have a direct impact on people's lives. It's crucial to come together to deal with problems like climate change. If we don't, the poor and vulnerable will suffer the most.
Cape Town residents queueing to refill water containers at the Newlands Brewery Spring Water Point in January 2018.
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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.
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In South Africa, Cape Town fears “Day Zero”, when the city will have to ration water drastically. The phenomenon threatens other cities as well but solutions exist.
People in the HaMakuya community go without potable water for months.
Melissa McHale
Associate Professor, Department of Environmental and Geographical Science and African Climate and Development Initiative Research Chair, University of Cape Town