Table 1 Characteristics of studies included in the review
From: Climate change adaptation in South Africa: a case study on the role of the health sector
Article title | Country | Study setting | Study design | Data sources | Analysis methods | Study population | Study aim | Theme | Study intervention | Outcome data | Outcome measures |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Climate change impacts on working people (the HOTHAPS initiative): findings of the South African pilot study [17] | South Africa | Johannesburg, Gauteng Province and Kimberley, Northern Province | Mixed methods | Focus group discussions, in depth interviews and quantitative data on weather | Grounded theory | Outdoor workers (e.g. grave diggers, street sweepers, roadside construction workers and horticultural workers), supervisors and farm managers | Examine perceptions of workers about working in hot sun-exposed weather and to identify adaptation measures weather | Heat adaptation actions | Adaptation measures in occupational setting | Characteristics of adaptation response | Actions to protect outdoor workers from heat-related conditions |
Information and communication technology and climate change adaptation: Evidence from selected mining companies in South Africa [72] | South Africa | Whole country | Effectiveness evaluation | Documents | Systematic literature appraisal | Mining houses | To determine measures undertaken by mining houses to use information, communication and technology (ICT) to address CC adaptation at different stages of the mining value chain | Health promotion | Use of ICT for: early warning systems for flooding, sharing knowledge of adaptation among staff, coordinating disaster recovery, supporting development of adaptation policies, analysing information for vulnerability assessments | Level of preparedness for CC-induced disasters, warning information | ICT changes in communication patterns for reducing CC vulnerability and exposure |
Mind the gap: institutional considerations for gender-inclusive climate change policy in sub-Saharan Africa [31] | All of sub-Saharan Africa | Whole country | Narrative review | Documents | Feminist analysis | General population, vulnerable groups of women | To elucidate why women should be placed at the heart of CC interventions and establish connections between gender and CC | Health promotion | Institutions: the “sets of rules, decision-making procedures, and programs that define social practices, assign roles to the participants in these practices, and guide interactions among the occupants of individual roles” | Outcomes of policies or institutions | Performance of institutions with regard to gender |
Seasonally lagged effects of climatic factors on malaria incidence in South Africa [55] | South Africa | Limpopo | Spatial and temporal mapping | Notified cases of malaria; Meteorological data (Gridded time-series climate data) | Spatial analysis | Adults and children with malaria | To analyse relationships between local climatic effects and remote atmospheric teleconnections on malaria incidence, including lag effects | Warning preparedness, surveillance using health and climate data | Document associations between malaria incidence and spatio-temporal climate variations | Infectious disease incidence | Effect of local and regional climate factors and large scale climate phenomena, on malaria incidence. Ability to predict timing of malaria incidence and inform early warning information |
Climate change and occupational health: A South African perspective [15] | South Africa | Whole country | Narrative review | Document review | Not stated | People in the workplace | To review impacts of CC on occupational health and prevention and control measures | Health promotion | Prevention and control of heat in the workplace | Occupational health | NA |
Long-run relative importance of temperature as the main driver to malaria transmission in Limpopo Province, South Africa: a simple econometric approach [3] | South Africa | Limpopo Province | Econometrics | South African Weather Services; European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts; Malaria Control Centre, Limpopo Province and Department of Health | Time series analysis | People with malaria | To examine the distribution of malaria, determine direction and strength of the relationship and causality between malaria and meteorological variables | Early warning system | Detect the time and length of impact on malaria cases using metrological variables | Infectious disease incidence | Malaria correlation with temperature and rainfall, and timing of cases |
Inclusion of climate change strategies in municipal Integrated Development Plans: A case from seven municipalities in Limpopo Province, South Africa [46] | South Africa | Limpopo Province | Policy analysis | Documents | In depth content analysis | Residents in a municipality | Investigate the extent to which CC adaptation and mitigation strategies are embedded in: Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) (planning document for each local municipality, contains policies and frameworks) | Integration of CC into other policies and plans | Inclusion of CC into IDPs | Quality of CC policies | Presence in policy documents of proposals on how to adapt and mitigate against CC; report of awareness of level of vulnerability; degree to which policies have a structured approach |
University students as recipients of and contributors to information on climate change: insights from South Africa and implications for well-being [62] | South Africa | Universities in Eastern Cape, KwaZulu Natal and Western Cape provinces. Some research activities in other provinces | Qualitative study | Focus group discussions, semi-structured interviews, key informant interviews and participant observation | Critical interpretivist research approach | University students | To explore influences of communication on CC on students’ understanding, concern and response; to explore barriers and opportunities for students when they inform their communities on CC; to recommend how to empower students as recipients of and contributors to information on CC | CC communication | Student’s receipt of communication on CC information and their communication of CC to others | Quality of CC communication | Perceptions of CC, role of new technologies in CC knowledge and communication; student leadership, nature of communication, CC knowledge and communication skills |
National policy response to climate change in South Africa [42] | South Africa | Whole country | Narrative review | Documents | None stated | Whole population of the country | Analyse the national government’s plan on CC adaptation and mitigation, including for the health sector | Health policy and health systems | Plans for: adaptation measures for socioeconomic and environmental resilience and emergency response; activities for the health sector | Status of CC policy | NA |
Health aspects of climate change in cities with Mediterranean climate, and local adaptation plans [47] | Australia, Chile, Spain, South Africa, United States | Cape Town, Western Cape Province | Narrative review | Climate action plans and other documents | None stated | Residents of Cape Town | To highlight health impacts of CC in Med-cities, analyze local climate adaptation plans and make adaptation policy recommendations | Policies and plans for CC adaptation | Adaptation plans that prevent or reduce vulnerability, including improvement of housing, infrastructure and the adaptation capacity of the population | Status of CC policy | Whether CC-related drivers of health impacts and key policy aspects were identified as risks, and what types of policy tools address the drivers |
Re-imagining the potential of effective drought responses in South Africa [75] | South Africa | Drought-affected areas | Effectiveness evaluation | Key informant interviews, analysis of historical documents, academic literature and social media | Mixed methods approach | Government officials, academics, civil society and others working on drought response in South Africa | To assess the responses to droughts over time, and make recommendations for developing inclusive knowledge generation processes in future | Processes of adaptation response | Response to droughts | Characteristics of adaptation response | Characteristics of response of policy makers, scientists and others to droughts; extent to which these responses changed over time |
Re-making the global economy of knowledge: do new fields of research change the structure of North–South relations? [100] | Australia, Brazil, South Africa | Whole country | Case series | Semi-structured key informant interviews | None stated | Researchers in CC, HIV and gender studies | To examine how global-North predominance in the making of organized knowledge has been affected by the rise of new domains of research | Knowledge generation for CC | Knowledge-making and knowledge circulation on CC | Characteristics of knowledge production | Assessment of equality in research resources, research structures, barriers to and tensions in research between global and Southern countries |
Moving from adaptive to transformative capacity: building foundations for inclusive, thriving, and regenerative urban settlements [84] | South Africa | Bergriver Municipality, Western Cape Province | Case study | Qualitative interviews, dairy keeping | Mixed methods approach | Youth, community | To apply explore how transformative capacity can be built in practice | Building resilience | Work with unemployed urban youth, and introduce a ‘community currency’ into the informal business sector. Increase interaction between the municipality and youth | Understand resource flows and networks for adaptation response | Effects of transformative capacity |
What role for local organisations in climate change adaptation? Insights from South Africa [49] | South Africa | Namaqualand, Northern Cape Province | Formative research | Survey of NGOs, CBOs and government officials | Mixed methods approach | Government officials, NGOs and CBOs | To develop and apply a framework to measure adaptive capacity among local organisations | Implementation of adaptation plan | Development and implementation of CC adaptation projects | Performance of adaptation response | Effectiveness and flexibility of local organisations and awareness of adaptation |
Variations in approaches to urban climate adaptation: experiences and experimentation from the global South [101] | Ecuador, India, South Africa | Durban, KwaZulu Natal Province | Qualitative methods | Semi-structured key informant interviews | Thematic analysis | Government officials, local municipal and city officials | To examine climate adaptation planning approaches in three cities and analyse different planning pathways and forms of stakeholder involvement | Integration of CC into other policies and plans | Prepare for CC through reducing vulnerability and enhancing resilience of populations, assets and municipal operation | Performance of adaptation response | Potential of different adaptation approaches and implications for government coordination, and participation and adaptive capacity of vulnerable groups |
What enables local governments to mainstream climate change adaptation? Lessons learned from two municipal case studies in the Western Cape, South Africa [44] | South Africa | Western Cape Province | Case studies | Semi-structured key informant interviews; documents | Thematic analysis | Residents of local areas | To identify factors that enable action to be taken at local government level | Integration of CC into other policies or plans | CC adaptation plan | Performance of adaptation response | Role of dedicated environmental champions in political leadership. Costs of CC |
A normative model for integrating organisations for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation within SADC member states [69] | Botswana, Madagascar, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe | Gauteng | Mixed methods | Documents, interviews, online survey | Thematic analysis and triangulation | Government officials | To investigate the actors and their location in government that create and shape governance in disaster risk reduction and CC adaptation integration | Integration of CC into other policies or plans | Disaster risk reduction and CC adaptation | Level of preparedness for CC-induced disasters, warning information | Level of integration of government organisations |
Local climate governance in the Global South: the case of eThekwini Municipality and the Responsible Accommodation Campaign [51] | South Africa | eThekwini, KwaZulu Natal Province | Case study | Documents, observation of meetings and forums, key informant interviews, quantitative and qualitative questionnaires | Action research project with mixed methods for data analysis | Government officials, local municipal and city officials | To identify different forms of local climate governance with a specific focus on relevance of networks | Importance of network governance approach to impact climate governance | Network governance | Outcomes of policies or institutions | Ability of network governance to shape climate policy and alter a project and its implementation |
Climate change and vulnerability discourse by students at a South African university [63] | South Africa | Limpopo Province | Survey | Self-report survey questionnaire | Univariate and bivariate analysis | University students | To assess the knowledge and understanding of CC and its impacts by university students by faculty and gender | CC knowledge | University curricula | Awareness | Level of knowledge and understanding of CC |
Climate change impacts and adaptation in South Africa [40] | South Africa | Whole country | Narrative review | Publications and grey documents | Not stated | General population | To review current approaches and recent advances in research on climate impacts and adaptation | Integration of CC policy in other policies; status of adaption | Adaptation efforts in the country | NA | A wide range of adaptation measures |
Contesting adaptation synergies: political realities in reconciling climate change adaptation with urban development in Johannesburg, South Africa [71] | South Africa | Johannesburg, Gauteng Province | Case study, qualitative methods | Key informant interviews, documents | Not stated | Urban planning actors, including political decision makers, policy-makers and executive leaders | To investigate contextual factors that shape adaptation barriers, and to explore how adaptation practices can be implemented through synergistic responses, in infrastructure and land use planning practices Flooding used as illustrative example | Urban health | Use of CC adaptation synergies in planning practices | Performance and characteristics of adaptation response | Synergies between planning responses to flooding and urban planning. Government planning priorities. Communities perceptions |