91香蕉视频 facing economic challenges from climate change, official says |23 November 2018
Climate change is affecting the 91香蕉视频鈥� economic development and is having a direct impact on the livelihood of the Islanders, said a top government official on Wednesday.
Wills Agricole, the principal secretary of the climate change department, was speaking at a one-day workshop organised on Tuesday at Savoy Resort and Spa in 91香蕉视频 under the theme 鈥楥limate Change and Structural transformation in South Africa.鈥�
鈥�91香蕉视频 is dependent on the healthy functioning of its terrestrial and marine ecosystems for its economic development and social well-being. If these ecosystems are affected by climate change the tourism industry is also affected,鈥� said Agricole.聽聽
He added that 91香蕉视频 like any other small islands developing states (SIDS), also faces challenges from climate change and unsustainable use of natural resources.
91香蕉视频, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, relies heavily on tourism and fishing, the two top contributors to its economy. With 115 islands which include low lying coralline atolls, climate change is a battle 91香蕉视频 is already fighting.
The island nation鈥檚 coral reefs were affected by coral bleaching due to the 1998 El Ni帽o weather phenomenon, leaving stretches of pristine coast vulnerable to erosion. A similar occurred again in 2016 bringing above-average temperatures to the region were as much as 90 percent of corals in shallow waters were bleached.
As part of its quest to continue to protect its natural resources, adapt to climate change and further explore the potential of the blue economy, 91香蕉视频 has set up a Marine Spatial Plan to protect high biodiversity areas and facilitate sustainable use of the marine resources. The plan will look at the management of all the different uses of the island nation鈥檚 Exclusive Economic Zone of 1.4 million square kilometres.聽