The need for climate change strategies by sport federations: Lessons on the impact of drought on sport in South Africa

It is widely acknowledged that sport impacts directly on sustainable development and that climate change in turn impacts on sport. Sport is related in an integrated way to all Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A number of international declarations, most notably the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development, have recognised the important impact that sport and recreation have on sustainable development. Sport organisations have taken a particular interest in SDG 12 and SDG 13, respectively about climate change and the sustainable production and consumption of products and services related to sport, as is also reflected in the 2022 fourth version of the Commonwealth Sport and SDG Toolkit. 

In the Western Cape Province, South Africa, a devastating drought had a major impact on sport in 2018 and 2019. Whereas the research initially focused on the effect of the drought on sport in the Western Cape as a result of climate change, research results showed that the South African situation was not unique, but a shared experience in the southern hemisphere and that Australia, Argentina, Chile, Madagascar, Namibia and other countries all had a severe drought in 2017/2018 and even 2019 which impacted negatively on sport and sport federations in all these areas. This drought was immediately followed by the COVID-19 period that impacted even more severely on sport in these countries in the following two years.

Research indicates that drought is likely to continue to occur as a result of climate change and that this trend will continue with global warming. The most prominent impact of the drought manifested through low runoff from source catchments to water supply reservoirs that rely on annual rainy season replenishment. This led to insufficient water storage to satisfy the demand of some 3.6 million residents of Cape Town and the irrigation in the Western Cape. Various research reports note the resilience of residents of Cape Town, which was at one stage limited to 50 litres per day per person (for all uses) and other water users that successfully reduced water usage to a significant extent.

The research findings showed that the drought impacted on sport mainly because very limited water resources led to water restrictions that resulted in the closure or partial closure of sport facilities. The drought also had a direct impact on surface areas with respect to almost all outdoor sports and had an even more serious impact on water-based sports where many pools were closed, and surface areas of dams were too low for usage.

The research shows that the 2017/2018 drought in the Western Cape had a serious impact on especially outdoor sports and aquatic sport types. The distinctions between the different sport types and geographical locations have proven to be important considerations. Our research showed that sport federations could be classified into three major categories as far as the severity of the impact of the drought was concerned. These included:

• Sport federations that were not affected or minimally affected by the drought. This category consisted of mainly indoor types of sport such as gymnastics, darts and pool.
• Sport federations that were seriously affected by the drought. These mainly included especially outdoor sport types where municipal facilities are used, such as football, netball, rugby, cricket and golf where sport facilities were dependent on water provision for both irrigation as well as ablution and drinking water.
• Sport federations that were severely affected by the drought. These types of federations included sport types that were primarily reliant on water, notably aquatics, sailing, and fishing.

The most important challenge experienced by the majority of clubs and federations were the closing down or partial closure of municipal sport facilities as municipalities had to adhere to the restrictions introduced through legislation. This meant that most of the facilities were closed and not accessible to outdoor sport federations at all, but also with similar implications for many indoor sport types that utilized buildings at these facilities.  Lessons of experience include that sport federations should:

• Assist and support local governments with long-term planning to address climate change and sustainable development
• Pro-actively negotiate and agree with local governments on measures to ensure that sport facilities remain open under various conditions and circumstances and that municipalities support sport activities and events as part of their local government planning
• Sport organisations were innovative in finding alternative solutions and adapting to realities. Sport organisations should develop their own sustainable development policies and climate change strategies, implement these effectively and monitor and report on results
• Sport federations are encouraged to use sport to promote environmental awareness, responsible water use and support for sustainable development

It is concluded that climate change and drought in particular impact directly on sport and sport organisations. The drought experience shows that it is vital for sport organisations to develop good sustainable development and climate change policies and strategies, to implement these effectively and monitor and publish such results. It is important for sport organisations and bodies to cooperate with strategic partners and to promote collaboration towards sustainable development.

Image: Arid lanscape in Theewaterskloof, Western Cape, in 2018. Photo shared by 6000.co.za on Flickr with a Creative Commons license. 

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About the authors

Professor Christo De Coning and Professsor Marion Keim are researchers from the University of the Western Cape (UWC). This research forms part of the research of the newly established UNESCO Chair for SDP and Olympic Education at UWC. 

A note on the methodology: Researchers from the University of the Western Cape interviewed the majority of sport federations in the province annualy during and after the drought and the findings in this article are part of the research called the Case for Sport (2018) in partnership with the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport (DCAS) and a recent publication on drought (De Coning et.al. 2023). The findings in this article are based on annual surveys and focus group discussions as well as interviews with 144 of 205 sport federations during this period.

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References

De Coning, C. (2018) The Case for Sport Phase 2: Socio-Economic Benefits of Sport and recreation in the Western Cape. Cape Town: Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport and ICESSD, University of the Western Cape.  

De Coning, C., Chen, X.O. and Keim, M. (2023)  Environmental Implications for Sport Federations from the South: Climate change and the case study of a recent drought in the Western Cape, South Africa. Publication submitted to Routledge.