Hosted by Alize le Roux, CSIR Principal Researcher

A growing number of South Africans in cities and towns are set to be exposed to the adverse impacts of weather-induced natural hazards, which threaten livelihoods, increase vulnerability, and undermine hard-earned development gains.

To address this growing challenge, contribute to proactive disaster risk reduction and to reduce the losses experienced from climate disasters, the Green Book was established as an open-access online planning support tool and made public in March 2019. The Green Book provides scientific evidence, tools and resources in support of local government’s pursuit to plan and design climate-resilient, hazard-resistant settlements.

Mainstreaming and embedding this rich and dense source of information and tools into local government planning policies, plans, processes and systems requires up-take, buy-in and extensive capacity development.

To ensure the Green Book is utilised to its fullest extent, a new partnership between the CSIR, Santam, the Department of Environmental, Forestry and Fisheries and the National Disaster Management Centre, has been established to support the testing, roll-out, training and uptake of the Green Book in municipalities.

The webinar will feature the Green Book as a planning support system, followed by a panel discussion with the public and private sector role-players on the value of the Green Book as well as the lessons learned from piloting this dynamic planning support system in 11 local municipalities across South-Africa.

Alize le Roux (Host), Ané Bruwer, Chief Director: Disaster Management Legislation and Policy Management, National Disaster Management Centre, Department of Cooperative Governance; Mr Lindelani Mudau: Director: Socio-economic Sectors (Adaptation), Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries; Willemien van Niekerk, CSIR Principal Researcher; John Lomberg, Head of Stakeholder Relations and Corporate Social Investment, Santam