Adapting to climate, water and health stresses:
insights from Sekhukhune, South Africa

Sustainable development and poverty reduction policy needs to be better supported by science that is policy relevant and focuses on the needs of the poor and marginalised, and those that are vulnerable to a range of environmental and socio-economic stresses. Traditional interventions (such as food aid or project interventions in the form of external credit schemes or infrastructure) are increasingly being questioned as to their appropriateness and effectiveness in improving rural livelihoods. Although there is considerable emerging research that highlights the need to consider multiple threats to livelihoods, there is to-date only a limited understanding of the mechanisms of individuals, communities and authorities to respond to multiple stresses and of the factors enabling or constraining them. It is therefore necessary that a shift in development policy and intervention is supported by research that uncovers the nature of existing complex adaptive systems so that existing capacities and opportunities for adaptive actions can be supported rather than new measures being imposed.