Climate change key driver to biodiversity loss 14 April 2008 |
News story Cape Town - Scientific evaluations on climate change
have confirmed that climate change is indeed a key driver to
biodiversity loss and stress to the country's resources, says
Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van
Schalkwyk. He said it was predicted that by the year 2030, the
number of people living in areas of water stress would increase
by 1 billion to 3.9 billion. He said it was imperative to adopt
a Business Unusual approach to the climate change challenge.
"Through the approach to 'Business Unusual', we need to address
the unmanageable through mitigation and unavoidable through
adaptation," he said. "It is therefore critical to design and
strengthen regional water regimes to manage the challenges
around increased water scarcity, and more specifically to
appropriately govern international rivers, watersheds and
underground water resources," the minister said. The minister
further said South Africa was currently as