One of Africa’s popular tourist hot spots, the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, is having to be fortified with rock armour to protect it against surging tides.
The City is also taking measures against a rising sea level along its coastal shelf that threatens tourism and livelihoods. Last year, it came up with a “line in the sand” to indicate the hazard point of the rise.
Only time will tell if these mitigation strategies will protect the city from potential disaster: sea levels are rising by 2mm every year, which a recent study says puts coastal tourism “under severe threat”.
Scientists say rising sea levels are caused by the warming of the planet, which results in mountain glacier and polar ice sheets melting, while the warming of water itself leads to its expansion.
According to the Cape Town-focused study by researchers at the Vaal University of Technology and Unisa, which appeared in the Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism, “current and projected rising sea level, as well as other extreme weather events such as the increased storm intensity, trigger massive waves and tides that result in storm surges, which overtop and encroach into the land surface area”.
Population under threat along Cape Town coast
Researchers Kaitano Dube, Godwell Nhamo and David Chikodzi say: “At least 80% of the city’s blue flag beaches are now under threat from rising sea level and coastal erosion.”
The study found that tourist attractions such as Cape Point, the V&A Waterfront in Granger Bay, Robben Island and several beaches along False Bay face the same threat.
“Our investigations revealed that the highest rising sea level in Southern Africa, outside of island states such as Mauritius and Seychelles, was recorded at Granger Bay, where the sea level is rising by an annual average of 2.18mm per year.”
This positions Cape Town as the city with the second fastest-rising sea level, after Mombasa, along Africa’s coastline.
Donald Kau, head of communications for the Waterfront, told the Sunday Times that the V&A’s regular risk assessment had not identified its coastline as being under short-term threat, and so far “it has not been necessary to implement any changes to our insurance covers”.
People do not understand the magnitude of what is going on. This [climate crisis] will be greater than anything we have ever seen in the past. This will be unprecedented. Every living thing will be affected
— Katherine Hayhoe, chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy, in The Guardian
“People do not understand the magnitude of what is going on. This [climate crisis] will be greater than anything we have ever seen in the past. This will be unprecedented. Every living thing will be affected.” — Katherine Hayhoe, chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy, in The Guardian.
However, the need for a “long term” and “comprehensive solution” was flagged.
“We have applied through environmental impact studies around Granger Bay for significant increase in coastal protection in the form of rock armour revetment to reinforce existing protections against surging tides,” he said.
The city’s mitigation plan, and its “coastal management line”, meanwhile, are being used to determine whether development applications fall within a risky area.
Deputy mayor and mayoral committee member for spatial planning & environment Eddie Andrews said areas considered vulnerable include Melkbosstrand, Big Bay/Small Bay, Table View beachfront, Milnerton, Green Point and Sea Point, Glen Beach, Camps Bay, Bakoven, Kommetjie, Witsands, Glencairn, Fish Hoek, Kalk Bay, Muizenberg Corner, Strandfontein/Baden Powell Drive, Monwabisi, Strand and Bikini Beach. Many are top tourist destinations.
He said the coastal management line was also established to protect coastal “green belts”.
“These green belts, such as vegetated dune cordons, are considered ‘green infrastructure’ as they are valuable ecosystems with respect to mitigating against the impacts of storm surges and coastal erosion.”
The key climate-related hazards listed as posing the greatest risk to the city are drought, fire, heatwaves, floods and strong winds
The city commissioned a hazard assessment report on climate change and the findings indicate that sea level rise will take place alongside other devastating weather events.
“Cape Town is expected to experience a drier and significantly warmer future. Changes in these first-order climate parameters have widespread impacts throughout biophysical, social and economic systems in and around the city,” the report says.
The key climate-related hazards listed as posing the greatest risk to the city are drought, fire, heatwaves, floods and strong winds.
These risks, according to the report, will have cumulative impacts on livelihoods, poverty and inequality, and will affect “people, the economy and the environment”.
It says that “building resilience” is the key to reducing vulnerability in Cape Town.
Responding to the findings of sea level rise in Cape Town, researchers at the Climate Change Knowledge Portal illustrate how it will affect far more than tourism and will ultimately affect drinking water too.
“Rising sea levels create not only stress on the physical coastline, but also on coastal ecosystems. Saltwater intrusions can contaminate freshwater aquifers, many of which sustain municipal and agricultural water supplies and natural ecosystems. As global temperatures continue to warm, sea level will keep rising for a long time because there is substantial lag to reaching an equilibrium.”
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