S.H. O'Donoghue

• PhD
• Senior Manager at EThekwini Municipality (Durban)

Urban local governments are increasingly developing climate change adaptation plans. However, there is limited literature on climate change adaptation experiences of African cities, particularly with regard to moving from strategy development to implementation. This continues to hamper efforts to understand and guide city climate change actions on...

Background: The KwaZulu-Natal Sandstone Sourveld (KZNSS) Research Programme is part of a collaborative, transdisciplinary research partnership between the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the eThekwini Municipality (EM), aimed at bridging the science-policy-practice gap. The research programme focuses on generating knowledge and capacity to support...

In contrast to coastal towns and small urban settlements, small coastal cities (population of between 50,000 and 100,000) may exhibit comparable knowledge and planning infrastructure as larger cities or be similarly connected to research institutions. However, at a global level, there is little statistical data about small cities, and their numbers...

The impacts of climate change will manifest differently in urban areas depending upon the individual characteristics and contexts of each settlement. The study of climate adaptation planning for towns and small cities is a relatively under-researched field, there has thus far not been a standard typology for characterising towns and cities located...

This special issue is devoted to establishing a benchmark database and framework for the analysis and development of climate change adaptation in coastal communities with less than 100,000 people. These coastal towns and small cities often have limited information about local climate change impacts and typically lack both the financial resources an...

This article summarizes and reflects upon the work presented in ‘The Unusual Suspects in Climate Change Adaptation – Small Coastal Cities and Towns’ special issue. Across the special issue the challenge of adapting coastal towns and small cities to the impacts of climate change was clearly evident. In order to address some of the challenges, an ini...

This Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere1 in a Changing Climate (SROCC) was prepared following an IPCC Panel decision in 2016 to prepare three Special Reports during the Sixth Assessment Cycle2 . By assessing new scientific literature3 , the SROCC4 responds to government and observer organization proposals. The SROCC follows the other two Sp...

Effective planning of a large-scale restoration project is challenging, because of the range of factors that need to be considered (e.g. restoration of multiple habitats with varying degradation levels, multiple restoration goals and limited conservation resources). Ecological restoration planning studies typically focus on biodiversity and ecosyst...

Background: The KwaZulu-Natal Sandstone Sourveld (KZNSS) Research Programme is part of a collaborative, transdisciplinary research partnership between the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the eThekwini Municipality (EM), aimed at bridging the science-policy-practice gap. The research programme focuses on generating knowledge and capacity to support...

Cities have a vital role to play in managing biodiversity and dealing with global environmental change issues (de Oliviera et al. 2011; Gilbert et al. 2013). It is projected that, by 2030, global urban land area will have nearly tripled, making the next two decades the most rapid period of urbanisation in the world's history. This development will...

The gap between scientific knowledge and implementation in the fields of biodiversity conservation, environmental management, and climate change adaptation has resulted in many calls from practitioners and academics to provide practical solutions responding effectively to the risks and opportunities of global environmental change, e.g., Future Eart...

The city of Durban, also known as eThekwini Municipality, is located in South Africa’s KwaZulu–Natal province and situated within the Maputo-Pondoland-Albany “biodiversity hotspot,” one of just 35 such hotspots worldwide. Durban’s population has grown by 1.1 percent, or 660,000 residents, since 2001. More than 70 percent of the population is Africa...

The Buffelsdraai Landfill Site Community Reforestation Project, in eThekwini Municipality (Durban) was initiated in November 2008, to offset a portion of CO 2 emissions (declared as 307,208 tons CO 2 equivalent) associated with Durban's hosting of several 2010 FIFA World Cup TM soccer matches. Whilst climate mitigation was the primary objective, th...

The Buffelsdraai Landfill Site Community Reforestation Project, in eThekwini Municipality (Durban) was initiated in November 2008, to offset a portion of CO 2 emissions (declared as 307,208 tons CO 2 equivalent) associated with Durban's hosting of several 2010 FIFA World Cup TM soccer matches. Whilst climate mitigation was the primary objective, th...

The Sardine run occurs annually when large schools of sardine (Sardinops sagax) move from the Agulhas Bank towards KwaZulu-Natal, and has significant ecological and anthropogenic importance. Recent investigation has highlighted the nature and mechanisms resulting in the sardine run, however, critical questions about why the sardine run occurs remai...

The KwaZulu-Natal Bight is a highly variable bio-optical environment, where waters over the shelf can change from the oligotrophic case 1 conditions of the Agulhas Current to the case 2 inshore environment influenced by upwelling and riverine influx. This study represents the first radiometric and biogeochemical validation to be performed in the Kw...

This paper reflects on the progress made in climate change adaptation in the city of Durban since the launch of the Municipal Climate Protection Programme in 2004. This includes the initial difficulties in getting the attention of key sectors within municipal government, and how this was addressed and also served by the more detailed understanding...

This paper describes the design and application of a benefit-cost model to the city of Durban’s (South Africa) climate change adaptation options. The approach addresses the inability to compile an accurate damage-cost function for economic prioritizations at the local level. It proposes that uncertainty over climate impacts and the efficacy of adap...

This paper describes the design and application of a benefit-cost model to the city of Durban's (South Africa) climate change adaptation options. The approach addresses the inability to compile an accurate damage-cost function for economic prioritizations at the local level. It proposes that uncertainty over climate impacts and the efficacy of adap...

The lack of progress in establishing ambitious and legally binding global mitigation targets means that the need for locally based climate change adaptation will increase in vulnerable localities such as Africa. Within this context, “ecosystem-based adaptation” (EBA) is being promoted as a cost-effective and sustainable approach to improving adapti...

Opportunistic observations to determine the relative abundance and distribution of marine mammal and seabird predators of sardine Sardinops sagax were carried out during a dedicated multidisciplinary research survey off the South African east coast in June and July of 2005 that was timed to coincide with the annual sardine run. Associations between...

The annual movement of South African sardine Sardinops sagax up the east coast of South Africa, known as the 'sardine run', was investigated using data from aerial surveys for the period 1988-2005 and compared with remotely sensed sea surface temperature (SST) and chlorophyll a data. Sardine sighting rates were highest within the Waterfall Bluff Bi...

The annual movement of South African sardine Sardinops sagax up the east coast of South Africa, known as the ‘sardine run’, was investigated using data from aerial surveys for the period 1988–2005 and compared with remotely sensed sea surface temperature (SST) and chlorophyll a data. Sardine sighting rates were highest within the Waterfall Bluff Bi...

The term ‘sardine run’ is part of the cultural heritage of the South African nation and refers to a natural phenomenon that is well known to the general public but still poorly understood from an ecological perspective. This lack of understanding has stimulated numerous hypotheses, often contradictory, that try to explain why (ultimate factors) and...

The nearshore presence of sardine Sardinops sagax on the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) coast was investigated using sightings data collected by the KZN Sharks Board from 1997 to 2007. The spatio-temporal distribution of sardine was described in relation to that of their predators and to environmental conditions, and subjected to generalised linear model (GLM...