Nature Positive Cities Efforts to Advance the Transition Durban 2024

2 Assessment of enabling environment2.7 Capabilities Overview Key departments such as the BMD and the CCD consist of highly skilled environmental specialists. However, there is room for improvement in terms of fully integrating environmental expertise into other city units and the city leadership. One notable CCD initiative is the induction workshop for newly elected city councillors, which outlines climate-change impacts and describes the Durban Climate Change Strategy.26 Professionals being recruited for the department should be required to have ecological and environmental qualifications, a minimum of four to six years of experience and registration with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professionals (SACNASP). International collaboration initiatives Durban engages with international organizations such as C40 Cities and the World Bank for capacity building programmes. The city also collaborates with local stakeholders for capacity building:27 –Central KwaZulu Climate Change Compact (CKZCCC) is a network of municipalities in the KwaZulu province seeking to collaborate on climate- change adaptation. –Durban Research Action Partnership (D’RAP) seeks to enhance capacity through research in partnership with the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The city has funded research programmes including projects on global environmental change and community reforestation research. Since its creation in 2011, the city has provided over ZAR 10 million (approximately $530,000), mostly allocated to postgraduate student bursaries. –EPIC Durban is a programme for students to participate in research programmes driven by community needs, related to topics such as informal settlements, water and sanitation. Challenges identified –Insufficient number of personnel to support conservation efforts and enforce compliance against nature criteria. –Limited dedicated BMD staff to support communications and funding application functions. –Lack of personnel for major roles (e.g. permanent senior manager) during critical periods. –Limited cross-departmental awareness on overarching city biodiversity objectives and targets. –Laborious and intensive recruitment processes limit acquisition of workforce. Improvement areas –Allocate a budget for staff dedicated to communicating climate change and environmental issues, and increase their involvement in environmental planning. –Participate in international collaborations, such as C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, Resilient Cities Network, and World Resources Institute (WRI), to strengthen civil capacity and apply global learnings. –Strengthen in-house biodiversity and nature expertise through training and on-the- job exposure. Nature Positive: Cities’ Efforts to Advance the Transition 34