The premise of this thesis is that complex socio-environmental problems, such as those associated with urban disaster risk and climate change, cannot be managed by individual organisations or hierarchical forms of organisation, but require integrated, inclusive, and multi-actor forms of governance. By adopting the concept of 'disaster governance' and by drawing on governance discourse, this thesis argues that multiple actors with various capacities and understanding of the problem should be involved in disaster management processes. This thesis demonstrates that in practice, however, a collaborative, decentralised, and inclusive disaster governance approach, which often involves actors outside of taken-for-granted networks, is harder to design, implement, and maintain in cities of the global South. In this thesis, an embedded qualitative case study approach is adopted to explore how the local municipality in Cape Town manages flood risk in one of their high-risk informal settlements called Sweet Home, which is located in Philippi on the Cape Flats. Qualitative data is collected from in-depth, semi-structured interviews and multi-actor workshops with local government officials in Cape Town, residents from Sweet Home informal settlement, and non-governmental organisations involved in flood management activities. This research uses a nodal governance approach to describe and analyse the unique mentalities, resources, technologies, and institutions that shape actors' actions and decisions with regard to flood governance. Added to this is an in-depth look at what barriers might be present as a product of these characteristics, and how these barriers impact on the ability of these actors to collaboratively address disaster risk. This thesis demonstrates that by unpacking these characteristics and the potential barriers, the conditions needed to strengthen disaster governance can then be identified.

For the past thirty years, food producers and consumers have initiated alternative food networks (AFNs) because of the perception that the globalising agrifood system is unsustainable, untrustworthy, and untransparent. These alternative strategies for food production and distribution are perceived to be rooted in sustainable, socially-embedded principles. In more recent years, solidarity purchase groups (SPGs) have formed as a distinct type of AFN collaboration that facilitates higher levels of relationships of regard and reciprocity between consumers and producers. The literature of AFNs has largely focussed on AFNs in the global North. There has been far less research focussed on the nature of AFNs in the global South. This research project was undertaken to write a history of an SPG in the global South, in Cape Town, South Africa: The Good Food Club (GFC). The development of the GFC was examined within the context of the global literature on AFNs. Key actors in the GFC, suppliers and members, were interviewed to describe their participation and to discuss the motivations driving their involvement in the GFC. The research explored their values around food production and distribution, and the ways their values have developed or changed over the time of their GFC involvement. Through increased exposure to the food system realities, members have grown in their consciousness as consumers. Members and suppliers expressed desire for connection with each other, for increased embodied knowledge. Members do not believe they will find this this knowledge and connection in the country's corporate retailers. Finally, this research comments the GFC developing similarly to AFNs of the global North, and its consequent limitations as a strategy for the common good of Cape Town.

Bibliography: pages 196-203. / The need to establish teaching techniques for Environmental Education in the South African secondary school context was perceived. The simulation method was identified as one such technique which became the focus of this study, because it was believed by the researcher to be compatible with the aims and objectives of Environmental Education. A simulation activity aimed at Standard 9 pupils was devised (based on a particular environmental issue i.e. nuclear vs coal-powered electricity generation). To demonstrate that this activity could affect pupils' environmental knowledge, concepts, attitudes and behavioural intentions, a series of 3 questionnaires was designed to capture the results of the simulation activity. A pilot test was conducted using both the simulation activity and the questionnaires. The results of the pilot test were then analysed after which appropriate changes were made, particularly concerning ambiguity and design problems in the questionnaires. The revised simulation activity and questionnaires were then implemented in 8 Cape Education Department English-speaking secondary schools with a sample population of some 206 pupils. Results analysed from the 3 questionnaires indicated that statistically significant changes had occurred among the pupils. This confirmed that the simulation activity could be utilised as a means of teaching various aspects of environmental education. However, the research also showed that the simulation activity is a teaching technique which needs to be used in conjunction with other supportive methodologies.

Global climate change and atmospheric CO₂ concentrations are affecting all levels of biodiversity in a number of ways. For example, the unique vegetation of the Cape Floristic Region (CFR) is expected to experience increased temperatures while rainfall becomes more seasonal, resulting in stronger summer drought with greater hydraulic stress in plants. Increased CO₂ concentrations, on the other hand, are expected to relieve hydraulic stress in plants that utilize the C3 pathway for photosynthesis (most fynbos species), by reducing the amount of time they have to keep their stomata open to take up the CO₂ they require. Observed weather data suggest that rainfall has remained relatively stable over the last 21 years, while temperatures for the region have increased marginally. Here I explore variation in the hydraulic traits (leaf and xylem anatomy) of Protea repens (L.) across a spatial climatic gradient in the CFR relative to a common garden experiment. I then compare the contemporary trait-climate relationships with a 21 year old xylem anatomy dataset. In the common garden experiment I explore xylem and leaf trait variation in P. repens from thirteen populations representing a gradient in temperature and mean annual precipitation. Because trait-gradient relationships can be confounded by genetic differences between populations along the gradient, I used a common garden experiment to test the degree to which trait variation was genetically constrained among populations. My results show that xylem vessel diameters and an estimate of hydraulic conductance increased with increases in maximum temperature and soil moisture days across the spatial gradient. My results for the common garden experiment does however show genetically constrained intra-specific differences in xylem vessel morphology between populations. Despite this, differences in xylem vessel and leaf morphology between plants in the common garden and their source locality demonstrate that P. repens has some ability to respond to changes in the environment through phenotypic plasticity. To determine the response of P. repens to changes in climate over the past 21 years, I compared contemporary xylem anatomy to an existing dataset collected from the same sites in 1994. My results show no significant change in vessel diameters since 1994 even though temperatures and atmospheric CO₂ have increased, with no change in rainfall amount. These results suggest that either P. repens is not experiencing increased drought stress under current climate conditions, or that xylem vessel anatomy is not a good proxy for small changes in drought stress in this species. The effect of increased drought stress due to higher temperatures and associated evaporative demand may be alleviated by increased atmospheric CO₂ reducing the amount of time the plants have to keep their stomata open to take up the CO₂ they require. Similarly, it is possible that drought stress has not changed substantially over this period, because a reduction in wind run across the CFR may have balanced the increase in evaporative demand created by higher temperatures. At a plant level, P. repens may not respond to small increases in drought stress by utilising deep water. In addition, P. repens is potentially able to reduce stomatal conductance thereby alleviating xylem anatomical responses to the small change in temperature since 1994.

Includes bibliographical references / Uncertainty in climate system initial conditions (ICs) is known to limit the predictability of future atmospheric states. On weather time scales (i.e. hours to days), the separation between two atmospheric model trajectories, initially "indistinguishable" (compared to unavoidable uncertainties) from one another, diverges exponentially-on-average over time, so that the "memory" of model ICs is eventually lost. In other words, there is a theoretical limit in the lead time for skilful weather forecasts. However, the influence of perturbations to climate system model ICs - particularly in more slowly evolving climate system components (e.g., the oceans and ice sheets) - on the evolution of model "climates" on longer time scales is less well understood. Hence, in order to better understand the role of IC uncertainty in climate predictability, particularly in the context of climate change, it is necessary to develop approaches for investigating and quantifying - at various spatial and temporal scales - the nature of the influence of ICs on the evolution of climate system trajectories. To this end, this study explores different conceptualisations and competing definitions of climate and the climate system, focussing on the role of ICs. The influence of ICs on climate quantifications, using probability distributions, is subsequently investigated in a climate model experiments using a low-resolution version of the Community Climate System Model version 4 (CCSM4). The model experiment consists of 11 different 50-member ensemble simulations with constant forcing, and three 50-member ensemble simulations under a climate change scenario with transient forcing. By analysing the output at global and regional scales, at least three distinct levels of IC influence are detected: (a) microscopic influence; (b) interannual-scale influence; and (c) intercentennial-scale influence. Distinct patterns of interannual-scale IC influence appear to be attributable to aperiodic and quasi-periodic variability in the model. It is found that, over some spatial domains, significant (p < 0.01) differences in atmospheric variable "climatologies", taken from 60-year distributions of model trajectories, occur due to IC differences of a similar order to round-off error. In addition, climate distributions constructed using different approaches are found to differ significantly. There is some evidence that ensemble distributions of multidecadal temperature response to transient forcing conditions can be influenced by ICs. The implications for quantifying and conceptualising climate are considered in the context of the experimental results. It is concluded that IC ensemble experiments can play a valuable role in better understanding climate variability and change, as well as allowing for superior quantification of model climates.

This study examines the relationship between African Easterly Waves (AEWs) and extreme rainfall events over West Africa, and investigates how climate change could alter this relationship in the future. Satellite observations, reanalysis data, and regional climate model (RCA4) simulations (forced with eight global climate simulations) were analysed for the study. The study used the 95th percentile of daily rainfall as a threshold to identify extreme rainfall events, and applied spectral analysis to extract 3-5 days and 6-9 days AEWs from 700hPa meridional wind component over West Africa. The capability of RCA4 to reproduce the rainfall climatology, extreme rainfall events, the characteristics of AEWs and the contribution of AEWs to extreme rainfall events over the region during the past climate (1971-2005) was examined and quantified using statistical analysis. The future changes (2031-2065) in these parameters were projected for the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 climate-change scenarios. The results of the study show that RCA4 gives a realistic simulation of the West African climate, including the annual rainfall pattern, the structure of AEWs, and the characteristics of the African Easterly Jet that feeds AEWs. The bias in the simulated threshold of extreme rainfall is within the uncertainty of the observed values. The model also captures the link between the structure of AEWs and the rainfall pattern over West Africa, and shows that the percentage contribution of AEWs to extreme rainfall events over the region ranges from 20 to 60%, as depicted by reanalysis data. For the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios, the RCA4 ensemble mean projects a future increase in annual rainfall and in the frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall events over the sub-continent, but the increase is generally higher for the RCP8.5 scenario. It also projects a decrease in the frequency of rain days, no changes in the structure of the AEWs, and an increase in the variance of the waves. However, the simulations from the ensemble mean shows no substantial changes in the contribution of AEWs to the extreme rainfall events, suggesting that the increase in the frequency and intensity of the extreme rainfall events may not be attributable to the changes in AEWs. The study's application is in understanding and mitigating the future impact of climate extremes over West Africa.

Despite the recognized importance of understanding late Holocene climatic changes in southern Africa, a dearth of available evidence has resulted in a frag- mented view of the recent past. South Africa has been identified as a key focus region for palaeoclimatic studies, as it reflects the dynamics of both tropical and temperate climate regimes. This study aims to create a catchment-integrated view of palaeoenvironmental conditions in the country's Winter Rainfall Zone (WRZ) and Southern Benguela region during the late Holocene, in order to establish the linkages between oceanic and terrestrial climate components. A multiproxy analysis was conducted on a west coast mudbelt sediment core, where continuous deposition over the last 2,250 years has aided the production of an uninterrupted age model. Alkenone and isotopic analyses were conducted at a multi-decadal resolution to assist in the reconstruction of sea-surface tem- perature (SST) in the St. Helena Bay region, and hydrological variation in the WRZ. Changes in moisture availability were inferred via the application of in- organic proxies, including grain size variation (promoted through the use of an end-member proxy algorithm) and the Fe/K ratio, a proxy interpreted to be rep- resentative of changes in chemical weathering. Furthermore, a newly-developed proxy, TEX 86 , was used as an alternative palaeothermometer. TEX 86 produced an additional record of SST, independent of alkenones, which elicited a com- parative study between SST TEX86 and SST UK'37 . The comparison facilitated a review of the effectiveness of TEX 86 within the Benguela Upwelling System, and assisted in quantifying reasons for the observed differences between the two methods. The results of the multiproxy analysis sheds new light on southwest African late Holocene climatic dynamics. This study documents a decrease in SST accompanied by increasing WRZ rainfall, which is hypothesized to be a result of large-scale changes in the position and/or intensity of the austral westerly wind belt. A northerly migration/increase in intensity of the winds acts to produce cooler SSTs and wetter west coast continental conditions, both of which were most acutely experienced during the so-called Little Ice Age (LIA) (1300 - 1850 CE). Zonal symmetry across the Southern Hemisphere is hypothesized to be a consequence of the large geographical extent of the westerly winds, as cooler and wetter conditions have been experienced in coastal, winter-rainfall areas of Chile and Australia.

Bibliography: pages 114-122. / The current extent of Sand Plain Fynbos and threats to its survival are examined, with a view to proposing effective means of managing areas of high conservation priority. Extensive depletion of Sand Plain Fynbos has resulted from agricultural development, urbanisation and its susceptibility to invasion by introduced woody plant species. The need to conserve this veld type is apparent in that only 0.05% of the original Cape Flats Sand Plain Fynbos still survives within scattered refugia. A mere 3.8% of this already minute fraction is represented in proclaimed nature reserves, clearly illustrating the neglected conservation status of this veld type. The majority of the remaining habitat owes its survival, albeit in various stages of degradation, to low impact land uses not related to conservation per se. The in-fields of the three racecourses on the Cape Flats in total comprise the land use supporting the largest area of Sand Plain Fynbos. This suggests the potential compatibility of such a land use with conservation in the longer term. Of the three racecourses, Kenilworth is the most important in terms of area, diversity and unprecedented numbers of threatened flora and fauna of the fynbos it supports. This provides a case study on which to base an assessment of the trends in species survival on small remnants. A historical backdrop to the isolation and degradation of the Kenilworth Racecourse and neighbouring remnants is provided. The predictions of conservation theory for the long-term viability of such small and isolated remnants are then reviewed. To determine the effects of recent events and processes on the conservation merits of Kenilworth Racecourse, species extinctions and turnover from 1950 to the present are determined for the flora and avifauna respectively. Past and current species checklists form the basis of this analysis. Causes of species loss are investigated by comparing the physical attributes and habitat preferences of the species present with those which have apparently become extinct locally. The influence of private landownership on the conservation security of Kenilworth Racecourse is of fundamental importance to its future conservation. In this respect, the likelihood of change in land use of the in-field fynbos, as well as the Racecourse area as a whole, is a crucial factor addressed in this study. The present and future operating requirements of the Racecourse Management are also determined and their likely effects on the natural system are assessed. The study establishes a need for conservation management at Kenilworth Racecourse. The approach adopted to achieve the ongoing conservation of the area is through the development of a Conservation Management Plan. The latter has been derived through reasoned and personal interaction with the Racecourse Management and is aimed towards integrating the needs of the Management with the ecological requirements for the natural system under its control. The creation of corridors to facilitate migration of biota, as well as the reintroduction of those species which have become extinct locally, are described as an adjunct to these proposals. The implementation of an organised burn programme is proposed as a management procedure to counteract species loss. Evaluation of initial success resulting from the Management Plan reveals that there is now an improved communication channel with the Management. This encompasses moral obligations for eradication of alien vegetation, abstention from further drainage of wetlands, prevention of future encroachment of parking within the natural system and an agreement to cease indiscriminate dumping of refuse material. A major constraint facing the conservation of the area is the reluctance of the Management to allow public interest groups direct involvement with monitoring and implementation of proposals presented within the Management Plan. The research findings and conservation management approach generated by the study are important because they have potential for promoting the long term conservation of analogous remnants, not only within the fynbos biome, but in other similar systems further afield. Although threats exist to the ongoing survival of Sand Plain Fynbos remnants, these should not prejudice their selection as areas worthy of sound conservation management. Remnants have inherent value as refugia. They are also of potential importance as sites for reintroduction of species that have become extinct locally, as educational resources and as relatively low-maintenance open spaces within the urban landscape.

Includes bibliographical references. / The most intensively used part of the Namib Coastline, the area between Walvis Bay and the Ugab river, contains some of the most important and most sensitive natural habitats. Apart from their ecological value, these habitats also attract large numbers of tourists. Tourism is one of the main sources of income in the coastal area of the Erongo Region, therefore it is in the interest of Namibians that these habitats are utilised in a sustainable way. The Department of Resource Conservation of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism is responsible for managing the West Coast Tourist Recreation Area as well as the wildlife in all of Namibia. Conservation managers from this Department have identified sites in the study area that are important for maintaining healthy populations of rare, threatened or endemic species or species of international and regional importance. These sites must be managed in such a way that their conservation and tourism value is not detrimentally reduced. In order to assist conservation managers with the allocation of resources, the sites that were identified are divided into three priority groups, namely imperative, urgent and desirable. The evaluation for priority rating was done according to the criteria of conservation value, tourism value and threats. Sites were compared using pair-wise comparison, and groupings were obtained through cluster analysis. The sites that were identified, their main reason for conservation, most important threats and management recommendations are listed below according to the priority groupings. Management recommendations are only done for the two highest groupings, namely the imperative and important sites.

The Botswana High is a prominent mid-tropospheric system that modulates rainfall over subtropical Southern Africa, but the capability of a Global Climate Model (GCM) to reproduce the characteristics and influences of this system on drought remains unknown. Furthermore, the summer variability of the Botswana High has been linked to the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). However, it remains unknown whether the high's variability is a direct response to ENSO. To that end, this thesis examines the capability of a GCM with quasiuniform resolution (Model Prediction Across Scales, hereafter MPAS) in simulating the characteristics and influences of the Botswana High on drought modes over the subcontinent as well as the influence of ENSO on the high. To simulate the characteristics of the Botswana High and its influence on drought modes, the MPAS model is applied to simulate the global climate at 240km quasi-uniform resolution over the globe for the study period 1980-2010. The model results are validated against gridded observation dataset (Climate Research Unit, CRU), satellite dataset (Global Precipitation Climatology Project, GPCP), and reanalysis datasets (Climate Forecast System Reanalysis, CFSR; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA; and ERA-Interim reanalysis 5, ERA5). To investigate the response of the Botswana High to ENSO, this thesis carried out two MPAS model experiments. The first model experiment used observed SSTs everywhere during the study period, while the second experiment used observed SSTs everywhere except over the Pacific Ocean, where monthly climatological SSTs are imposed. The results of this thesis show that MPAS replicates all the essential features in the climatology of climate variables (e.g. temperature, rainfall, 500 hPa geopotential height and vertical motion) over Southern Africa, reproduces the spatial and temporal variation of the Botswana High, and captures the influence of the Botswana High on droughts and deep convections over the subcontinent. In all the datasets (CRU, ERA5, 20C and MPAS), the most dominant five Drought Modes (hereafter DM1-DM5) over Southern Africa jointly explain more than 60% of the interannual variability in the 3-month summer droughts for SPEI and for SPI. ERA5 and MPAS agree that the Botswana High influences the interannual variability of DM1; however, the influence is strong in ERA5 (r = -0.85) and moderate in MPAS (r = -0.42). In addition to that, wet years (+ve SPEI and SPI) are characterized by a weak Botswana High and drought years (-ve SPEI and SPI) by a strong Botswana High. In addition to that, the wet and dry years correspond to the -ve and +ve phases of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), respectively. Given this, the results of this thesis suggest that the Botswana High might be a conduit pipe through which ENSO signals influence DM1 over the region. Investigation into the impact of ENSO on the Botswana High reveals that the absence of ENSO forcing reduces the amplitude of the Botswana High variability, but the signal of the variability remains. While ENSO enhances the strength of the Botswana High, it does not aid the formation of the High. The result of the thesis has application in the improvement and application of MPAS for drought early warning systems over Southern Africa.