SEIZING THE MOMENT: CLIMATE MAINSTREAMING IN THE eTHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY AND LESSONS ON LEVERAGING MAJOR EVENTS

Abstract With the significant threat that climate change poses to societies across the world and specifically those in the Global South such as the eThekwini municipality, urgent and comprehensive action is necessary to mitigate and adapt to the devastating effects of climate change. Climate mainstreaming, which is the process of integrating climate strategies into all policies, plans, investments, decisions, and implementation in a government, is essential to addressing the issue. Existing literature has emphasized this importance, however, there has been minimal study of the process within the eThekwini municipality. This study aims to fill that gap and build an understanding of the state and process of climate mainstreaming within the eThekwini municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It seeks to explore how the municipality has mainstreamed climate mitigation and adaptation strategies by specifically focusing on three major events: the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the 2011 United Nations Climate Change Conference COP17/CMP7, and the April 2022 floods and ensuing recovery. This research, informed by critical analysis of official documents and semi-structured individual interviews with municipal officials, provides key insights into the process of mainstreaming climate issues. It seeks to understand the success of climate initiatives related to each of the three case studies, the impact that they have had on mainstreaming within the municipal government, and the challenges that the municipal government has faced in attempting to mainstream climate issues and make meaningful progress towards sustainability and resiliency. Findings reveal that while commitments have been made to climate action, the follow-through on those commitments is lacking. The insights into the challenges and successes of climate mainstreaming revealed through this study can be applied to bolster understandings of climate mainstreaming and strengthen local responses to the threat that climate change poses around the world.