The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has committed to be at the center of the development and implementation of the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) led climate resilient strategy.
The Metro formed part of the entities, that signed a pledge to make Nelson Mandela Bay a climate-smart Metro at an event held at Mendi Art Centre in New Brighton on Wednesday, 24 January 2024.
In 2020 President Cyril Ramaphosa set up the Commission to “oversee and facilitate a just and equitable transition towards a low-emissions and climate resilient economy”.
NMBM has become the first Metro in the country where the Presidential driven climate resilient development strategy framework has been launched.
NMBM Public Health Mayoral Committee Member, Cllr Thsonono Buyeye said as the local government, NMBM was committed to work with key stakeholders to make the strategy and its implementation a reality.
“Today is indeed a special day for us as NMBM. We have been engaging with various stakeholders including the local business chamber, civil society as well as the Presidential Climate Commission with the hope of getting of actually getting assistance and expertise from the commission. We have committed ourselves in making sure that we build a climate resilient NMB.”
“We need the expertise of experts around the City who have a similar goal of making sure that the City is climate resilient. We need to work together to make sure that the deadlines that we have committed ourselves to are met so that we are in position to have projects that can attract investors to fund so that we can be climate resilient as soon as possible. We have seen the devastation of climate change in other parts of the country and the world at larger and we are trying to make sure that we cushion so that we can prevent and when the eventuality comes, we are in a better state to deal with climate change issues,” MMC Buyeye said.
PCC Executive Director, Dr Crispian Olver said all stakeholders had a role to play in the development of the strategy.
“We want the City to be resilient to the physical impact of climate change, which include a hotter climate, more frequent disasters, floods and droughts. We are interested in the long term water, food and energy security of the City. We also want to talk about economic resilience, how does the economy of the City including the auto manufacturing base that you have and the other jobs, how do we make sure that in the future those jobs are not lost and in fact we grow the economy,” he said.
Public and sector engagements will take place where residents and other stakeholders will be given an opportunity to give inputs before the draft strategy is finalized.
Issued by NMBM Communications Office.
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