Across South Africa, including KwaZulu-Natal, people are noticing the change. Some years bring devastating floods, like the 2022 KZN floods that destroyed homes, roads and water infrastructure. Other years bring severe drought and shrinking dams, leaving communities under strict water restrictions.

This is what climate change looks like: not just rising temperatures, but water behaving differently. Warmer air holds more moisture, which means heavier downpours.

At the same time, higher temperatures increase evaporation, drying soil and rivers quicker. The result is instability, more intense floods and longer droughts. But climate change alone does not determine how severe these disasters become.

Health of our landscape plays a crucial role

Healthy soil, grasslands, forests and wetlands act like shock absorbers. They absorb rain, slow runoff, recharge groundwater, and stabilise rivers.

When these systems are damaged through deforestation, mining, overgrazing or poorly planned development, flood waters move faster and drought impacts worsen.

Water security begins in the landscape, long before water reaches a dam or treatment plant. If we want safer communities and reliable water supplies, protecting natural systems is not optional. It is essential.

Why this matters to our community:

• Heavier rainfall increases flood risk in Newcastle, Durban and surrounding KZN towns.
• Damaged roads, bridges and water infrastructure raise municipal costs, which affect ratepayers.
• Drought reduces water supply reliability and increases food prices.
• Poorly managed land makes climate impacts worse than they need to be.
• Healthy landscapes reduce disaster damage before emergency services are even needed.

The news provided to you in this link has been investigated and compiled by the editorial staff of the Newcastle Advertiser, a sold newspaper distributed in the Newcastle area. Please follow us on Youtube and feel free to like, comment, and subscribe. For more local news, visit our webpage, follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and follow us on our WhatsApp Channel