The role of urban agriculture in building resilience towards climate change in the city of Tshwane

Abstract

This thesis seeks to explore the role of urban agriculture in building climate resilience in the city of Tshwane, South Africa. It looks at how urban agricultural practices in the city can be used to influence climate change policy designs and implementation leading to enhanced resilience. This is premised on the need to ensure that major metro cities like Tshwane take the necessary steps to contribute to effective water management and the building of climate resilient societies. Based on a qualitative research method, this thesis provides a deeper understanding of the status and benefits of urban agricultural practices in Tshwane. Qualitative techniques in a form of semi-structured interviews and observations were administered on key informants to better understand the key factors influencing the implementation of urban agricultural practices. The study established that urban agriculture exists within the city of Tshwane, particularly within specific communities around the city. Vegetable gardening emerged as the most prominent practice throughout the city in spaces such as schools, community gardens and open spaces to contain soil erosion. The thesis illustrates that there are number of urban greening programmes implemented through the various structures of the municipality which relates to urban agriculture, yet there is no overarching policy outline within which these can be tied together. Clearly, duplications among policy instruments exists and there seem no way of reducing and filling up gaps and exploiting synergies. Although South Africa and by virtue the City of Tshwane is one of the signatories to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and has committed to working towards achieving food security, clean water and affordable clean energy, it is clear that the implementation of climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies in the city remains challenging. Despite the successful establishment of green initiatives, there are some hindrances within the city that inhibit transition of urban agriculture into a resilient city. As such, it is recommended that relevant authorities put in more funding into research and learnership programmes to ensure the successful establishment of urban agriculture in the city. In particular, the government should fund the development of new urban agriculture production because it needs financial resources to enhance the capacity of most farmer.