City of Cape Town to increase its study to rising sea levels

By Yamkela Xhaso
07 August

The city of Cape Town has announced that it will expand its study about the climate change and rising sea levels

The city council's head of environmental policy and strategy, Gregg Oelofse said that the melting of the polar caps could lead to part of Cape Town coastline to be under water, thus causing a multi-billion rand loss and damage to the economy.

Gregg Oelofse added that he is very concerned about what the implications around the city of Cape Town might be in the next twenty to forty years

“ We have around three hundred kilometres of coastline with a lot of infrastructure which is very close to existing high-water mark”

“Globally the prediction around the climate change is that we are likely to see an increase in the frequency and intensity of big storms” Oelfse added

“What we are trying to model is what those implications might be for the city so that we can understand and start preparing for what damages that may take place”

The city also want to influence more development and more training so to, minimise the risk of those larger storms.

“ We also want to minimise the risk of sea levels for the city’s infrastructure and our recreational space”