Communities of the Keiskamma River are vulnerable to climate change. They are impoverished and dependent upon goods and services of natural ecosystems on land, along the seashore and the estuary, all of which are in decline. The majority of families (70% or more) also rely on social grants provided by the government, but some depend upon incomes that family members earn through employment. There is little security regarding food as the collection of food from the aquatic systems is unsustainable, income is insecure and uncertain, and agriculture, including gardening, is in serious decline.

For this report, The Impact of Climate Change on Food Security Among Coastal Communities of Keiskamma in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, a multidisciplinary team from universities and NGOs worked with the communities to map out a better future in the face of climatic uncertainty. Social scientists relied most heavily on interviews, and the natural scientists upon water, biological and soil samples. Much more work is required, but momentum has developed so that education and skills training, and profitable rehabilitation of ecosystems with community ownership and redevelopment of food gardens are priority objectives. Significantly, community members who attended the feedback workshop concluded that, rather than wait for government handouts, they should develop a forum to play a leadership role to cope with food security in the face of climate change.

Further reading:

This project and publication has been produced as part of the START call for research on the theme of ‘Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security’ in Africa, with an emphasis on the sustainability of ecosystem services in Africa. Objectives of this call are to commission high quality, independent, policy-relevant and credible research to support policy making for sustainable development in the region, to build the capacities of regional research partners to conduct high level research and to create a platform for knowledge sharing at the regional level. The funding has been provided by US National Science Foundation, Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and CDKN.

START homepage: START
Research call information: Regional Research Call – Africa

START projects:

• Safety Nets Simplified: Simulated Decision-Making in Volatile Developing Economies
• Management of Ecosystem Services of the Forests of Southwest Nigeria in Support of Rural livelihoods and Food Security
• Reducing tropical deforestation and the Protection of Ecosystem Services to support food security in Southwest Cameroon
• Sustainable Farmland management in the context of climate change in inland valleys of Southern Benin
• Changes in Tree Reproductive Phenology: Causes and Implications in and around Budongo Forest Reserve, Uganda
• Impact of Climate Change on Water Resources, Agriculture and Food Security in the Ethiopian Rift Valley: Risk Assessment and Adaptation Strategies for Sustainable Ecosystem Services
• Improving Seasonal Forecast Information for Managing On-farm Decisions
• Integrating Indigenous Knowledge and Scientific Methods for Flood Risk Analyses, Responses and Adaptation in Rural Coastal Communities in Nigeria
• Community-based management of ecosystems and natural resources for the improvement of rural livelihoods and food security in the Nigerian Savannah
• Engaging farmers and climatologists in Adaptation to climate variability and change in the Okavango Delta of Botswana
• The role of Urban and peri-urban agriculture in enhancing food security and climate change resilience in East and West African Cities
• Assessing Adaptation Responses by Smallholder Farmers in Northern Ghana to Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss
• Sensitivity of Coastal Lagoon Ecosystems to Climate and Related Global Changes: Developing a North African Lagoons Network