This blog provides a comprehensive review of the available natural hazard tools and databases for disaster risk monitoring, mitigation, and analysis in South Africa. It aims to offer valuable insights into the current landscape of disaster risk management in South Africa.
Lake Sibaya is South Africa’s largest freshwater lake, known for its high levels of biodiversity and endemic species, making it a landscape of national and international importance. However, the lake has declined over the past 20 years due to a combination of below-average rainfall and forestry expansion, leading to conflict over water resources between humans, livestock, and economic activities such as commercial forestry licensing. The decline of the water has also affected the ecosystem services Lake Sibaya provides in the catchment. This case study highlights how past land use and land cover changes have affected the water resources in the catchment.
Compiled utilising information from the 2018 National Biodiversity Assessment (NBA) by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), this blog speaks to the current status and protection level of South Africa’s terrestrial ecosystems.
The South African National Climate Change Information System (NCCIS) contains climate related data and information from a range of sources for the purposes of providing insights into the country’s progress in responding to climate change and achieving national and international goals, commitments and targets.
The SARVA Climate Risk Tool is a local decision support tool that houses spatial information on historical climate data, projections, and impacts. The tool utilises data from expert sources such as SAEON, DEFF, CSIR, Centre for Research on the Epidemiology as well as the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia.
The BioEnergy Atlas is an initiative funded by the Department of Science and Innovation and implimented by the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON). This interactive dashboard presents the finding of the feasibility analyses from BEA 1.0 with the aim of providing regional contextual information about which BioEnergy Options are feasible within the each region.
An environmental risk and vulnerability profiler based on the 2018 National Biodiversity Assessment (NBA) data which was conducted by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI).
The 2017 Agriculture Census is a country-wide census of commercial agriculture, which provides financial performance data of all farmers registered for value-added tax (VAT) and the production performance of all farmers who responded to the census. The census includes variables such as, inter alia, the type of farm ownership, agricultural income and expenditure, production land, agricultural products (i.e. crops and animals), agricultural losses, employees’ remuneration, and some demographic information about farm operators.
Decision-ready data in support of health SDGs for South Africa. The data provided is at Local Municipality scale and includes data on HIV, TB, non-communicable diseases, smoking, and health care workers.