Announcements
Announcements
PURE supports the development of just and representative climate resilient urban strategies in dryland Windhoek, Namibia, to enhance future health, wellbeing and economic development.
Informal settlement in the drylands of Windhoek, Namibia. (Photo Dr Jessica Thorn, University of Cape Town/ York – 2019)
The project’s principal focus concerns applying an innovative values-based scenario tool to develop urban policy informed by multiple stakeholder value systems (e.g., municipal authorities, urban planners, marginalized and informal communities). Stakeholder scenarios will consider both historic and contemporary climate, land-use and rural-urban migration patterns, while future scenarios will consider how the City of Windhoek’s National Integrated Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (ICCSAP) will perform under urban planning, conservation and governance scenarios.
Some residents carry out autonomous adaptation, such as planting trees and using tyres to stabilize structures and slopes against surface runoff. Researchers also spoke to residents about the value they place on ecosystem services in Windhoek’s informal settlements (Photo Dr Jessica Thorn, University of Cape Town / York – 2019)
In Namibia, located in southern Africa, unplanned peri-urban growth (approx. 7.2% per annum) and exposure to climate-induced hazards (e.g., drought, rising temperatures, falling dam levels, localised flash flooding) continues to erode basic infrastructure and public services, ecosystems, and entrench historical inequalities. For example, in 2018, the state of informal settlements in Namibia was considered a humanitarian crisis, and in 2019, following six years of drought, a state of emergency was declared. These factors threaten future progress towards achieving healthy communities, regional economic development, and multiple sustainable development goals.
Photos illustrate various forms of ecosystem services and urban green infrastructure in Windhoek, such as grasses collected from riverbeds to be sold to cattle farmers as fodder, riparian buffers in informal settlements, and urban agricultural plots in informal settlements. Students explored the mechanisms of governance, and policies for management, of these assets. (Photo: Dr Jessica Thorn, University of Cape Town/ York – 2019)
In these circumstances, pro-active engagement and inclusion of local stakeholders, especially marginalised voices, in urban planning has the potential to improve decision-making, reduce historical inequalities, promote benefit-sharing and social-ecological resilience. Yet, few attempts have been made to assess the drivers of unplanned informal settlement expansion, their reciprocal interaction with social-economic and environmental impacts (e.g., food, water, energy, land and livelihood security), how this feeds into current planning processes, now and in the future.
Participatory workshop conducted for the Shack Dwellers Federation Namibia – Namibia Housing Action Group (SDFN-NHAG) on the science and implications of climate change, as well as the role of ecosystems in ameliorating these impacts. (Source: Dr Jessica Thorn, University of Cape Town / York – 2019)
By applying a participatory values-based scenario modelling approach that allows diverse stakeholders, including marginalised rural-urban communities, to articulate their perspectives concerning future urban policy planning processes, the project’s aim is to encourage the co-design of equitable future climate resilient urban development pathways, and serve as a future policy model for the country, with wider application across SEI research in health and wellbeing, urban green infrastructure and African urbanization.
Example of ecological infrastructure in Namibia Nalitongwe, Windhoek. Source: Dr Jessica Thorn, University of Cape Town / York – 2019)
PURE is a collaboration between UK, Namibian and South African partners, specifically: the Namibia University of Science and Technology (Integrated Land Management Institute), University of Namibia (Department of Biology); Namibian Housing Action Group; University of Cape Town (African Climate Development Initiative), ICLEI Africa (Urban Natural Assets); University of Winchester (Department of Accounting, Finance, Mathematics and Economics) and the University of York (SEI; Environment and Geography; Biology and Politics)
Project Investigator
Dr Steve Cinderby (Stockholm Environment Institute York; SEI head of Health and Wellbeing; Senior researcher, Co-leader SEI Initiative on City Health and Well-being)
Profile: https://www.sei.org/people/steve-cinderby/
Co-Investigators
University of York
University of Winchester
University of Cape Town
University of Namibia
Namibian University of Science and Technology
Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia/ Namibian Housing Action Group
ICLEI Africa
Research Assistants
Feature / SEI’s work with partners in the Namibian capital underpins the development of the city’s first integrated climate change strategy and action plan.
Project / Future Resilience for African CiTies And Lands (FRACTAL) looks at climate processes driving southern Africa's climate variability and response to global change.
Project / The SanWatPUA network focuses on the synthesis and the communication of scientific knowledge about the provision of sanitation and water in developing cities.
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