CLIMATE ACTION HANDBOOK

The Climate Action Handbook is a guide designed to empower South African communities to respond to climate change by combining scientific understanding with legal action. It defines climate vulnerability and resilience, outlines South Africa's specific climate risks and legal framework—including constitutional rights and environmental legislation—and provides a ten-step practical framework for community-led climate action, ranging from advocacy and information gathering to formal legal proceedings.

• Climate change is driven by human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, specifically carbon dioxide and methane, which disrupt the natural greenhouse cycle and lead to more severe and extreme weather patterns.
• Global greenhouse gas emissions are primarily driven by energy production, which accounts for 72% of all emissions, with electricity and heat specifically contributing 31%.
• Climate resilience is defined as the ability of a community and its natural environment to avoid, absorb, respond to, and adapt to climate change impacts, achieved through physical changes, community cooperation, and legal empowerment.
• South Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate change, with predictions from the South African Weather Service in 2017 suggesting the country will warm twice as fast as the global average.
• Despite international commitments under the UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol, and Paris Agreement, South Africa remains heavily reliant on coal-fired power stations and is among the world's leading greenhouse gas emitters, ranking fourteenth in 2017.
• The South African Constitution provides several fundamental rights that are threatened by climate change, including the right to an environment not harmful to health (Section 24), the right to life (Section 11), and the right to food and water (Section 27).
• South Africa has a comprehensive set of environmental laws, such as the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) and the National Water Act, which mandate environmental impact assessments and a general duty of care to protect the environment.
• Legal empowerment for communities involves a ten-step process: strengthening community leadership, advocating, gathering information, accessing information via PAIA, participating in decision-making, lobbying government, protesting, petitioning, reporting wrongdoings, and taking legal action as a last resort.
• Traditional and indigenous knowledge is a critical tool for climate adaptation, offering sustainable practices such as shoreline reinforcement, rainwater harvesting, and diversified crop strategies.
• The Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) allows citizens to request information from public and private bodies, though access can be refused for reasons of privacy, commercial confidentiality, or national security unless a public interest override applies.

APA

Natural Justice (2021). CLIMATE ACTION HANDBOOK. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/NJ_Climate-Change-Handbook_DRAFT-3.pdf

Chicago

Natural Justice. CLIMATE ACTION HANDBOOK. 2021. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/NJ_Climate-Change-Handbook_DRAFT-3.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Natural Justice |title=CLIMATE ACTION HANDBOOK |date=December 2021 |url=https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/NJ_Climate-Change-Handbook_DRAFT-3.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{naturaljustice2021climate, author = {{Natural Justice}}, title = {{CLIMATE ACTION HANDBOOK}}, institution = {Natural Justice}, year = {2021}, month = dec, url = {https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/NJ_Climate-Change-Handbook_DRAFT-3.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }