In 2024 the University of Cape Town played an active role in cooperative planning and capacity building with government actors on climate-related disaster risk, monitoring and early warning. Evidence includes CSAG’s Short Course on Navigating Climate Risk (applications opened 25 March 2024) and the CSAG-CONFER Climate Risk Training School (2-6 September 2024) - both aimed at municipal, provincial and national government practitioners - and a CSAG/ACDI-led peer-to-peer learning initiative (linked to the Presidential Climate Commission and municipal partners, including eThekwini and Nelson Mandela Bay) that developed learning exchanges and guidance on resilience to floods and droughts. UCT’s 2024 synthesis report “Climate change impacts in South Africa: What climate change means for a country and its people” (Feb-Mar 2024) was also released to inform policymakers and planners. These activities represent verifiable, government-facing cooperation on hazard anticipation, early warning interpretation, and municipal-level adaptation planning - all directly relevant to managing climate disasters that can lead to internal and cross-border displacement.

1. CSAG-CONFER Climate Risk Training School

CONFER (EU H2020 co-production project) and UCT’s Climate System Analysis Group (CSAG) ran an intensive CSAG-CONFER Climate Risk Training School from 2-6 September 2024 (course announcement 23 Apr 2024). The course targeted practitioners and decision-makers who use climate information - explicitly naming National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs), government departments/ministries, city councils and local municipalities among the target audience. This is a clear instance of UCT training government officials and other state actors in using climate information for early warning, risk assessment and planning (skills directly relevant to disaster response and displacement risk management).

2. CSAG Short Course on Navigating Climate Risk

CSAG opened applications for its annual Short Course on Navigating Climate Risk on 25 March 2024. The course is designed to equip practitioners (including municipal planners, water and disaster management specialists and policy officers) with the ability to interpret climate projections and apply them to decision-making and early-warning contexts. This is direct capacity-building for government actors tasked with disaster risk reduction and planning for events (droughts, floods, heat) that can drive displacement.

3. UCT (ACDI / CSAG) input to Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) and peer-to-peer municipal learning (2024)

UCT has engaged with the Presidential Climate Commission through collaborative projects (e.g., peer-learning for adaptation to floods/droughts), participation in high-level PCC events (e.g., report launch July 2024), and contribution of research and knowledge-sharing aligned with the PCC’s mandate of a just and climate-resilient transition.

UCT’s African Climate & Development Initiative (ACDI) and CSAG were named contributors to a programme of peer-to-peer learning and materials designed to support municipal resilience to floods and droughts. The CSAG project page “Facilitating Peer-to-Peer Learning to Build Climate Resilience to Floods and Droughts” describes UCT researchers inputting to design and materials for learning exchanges focused on eThekwini and Nelson Mandela Bay, and lists the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) as a project partner. The project is framed explicitly to “support the PCC efforts” (i.e., a direct collaboration with a national government statutory body) and to build resilience at municipal and national levels - activities that feed directly into cooperative planning for climate disasters and their social impacts (including potential displacement).

4. UCT synthesis/reporting intended to inform government policy and planning

In early 2024 UCT (CSAG and collaborating researchers) published a major synthesis titled “Climate change impacts in South Africa: What climate change means for a country and its people” (CSAG post 28 Feb 2024; UCT News coverage 11 Mar 2024). The synthesis is explicitly framed to inform policy-makers, planners and the public about the hazards (drought, floods, heat) and likely cascading effects on livelihoods and infrastructure - material used by government for planning and for anticipating population impacts and needed adaptation responses.

5. CSAG / UCT projects and municipal support programmes referenced by provincial/local government documents (2024)

Western Cape provincial and district climate adaptation documents (2024 drafts and plans) cite UCT work and methodologies (e.g., local adaptation assessments and municipal support toolkits) and reference the need for mainstreaming climate information into municipal IDPs and Disaster Management Plans. UCT researchers and units (CSAG / ACDI) have been repeatedly engaged by provincial/municipal programmes as technical partners (e.g., Municipal Adaptation Support / PCC engagements) - demonstrating an institutional pattern of co-production of climate information and guidance with government bodies that continued into 2024. (Examples appear in provincial/district documents and PCC event listings from 2024.)