Climate change 'could be worse'

2006-06-15 08:40

Cape Town - Climate change could have a more severe effect on South Africa than was previously estimated, government warned on Wednesday.

This could effect the economic potential of certain regions, and the sea levels around the country's coastal cities, Government Communication (GCIS) spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe told journalists at a post-cabinet meeting media briefing.

He said cabinet had been briefed earlier on Wednesday on new scientific information and the economics of climate change.

"In the main, the new data point to a potential for more adverse effects of climate change in terms of biodiversity, sea levels for coastal cities, economic potential of various regions, and so on."

For this reason, cabinet had agreed that certain programmes aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change should be "scaled up", he said.

Further information on the new data - which the department of science and technology confirmed was presented to cabinet by one of its senior officials - was not immediately available.

- SAPA