A Systematic Review of Climate Change, Water Security, and Conflict Potentials in Kwazulu-Natal Province, South Africa

Water is unarguably an essential commodity for livelihood and livelihood support as it is crucial for human needs. While the right to water is recognized as inherently enshrined in the constitution of South Africa, ensuring the enforcement of such right in the face of the impact of climate changes requires systematic thinking around water security. Despite the efforts to ensure the accessibility to water by all, the exponential increase in violent protests around water-related issues is an issue of policy concern. Using a systematic review approach, the paper assessed the propensity of conflict as a response mechanism to water insecurity in South Africa from the prism of the eco-violence theoretical framework. The rationale is to determine the extent to which the Malthusian hypothesis on climate security reflects the reality for KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa, given her sociopolitical and historical configuration. The study observed an increasingly noticeable rise in the frequency of extreme events and water scarcity in South Africa due to the country's climate peculiarities. It showed that the conflict scenarios emanating from water insecurity in the study area are a given. Hence, the propensity of its intensity due to a continuous decline in water availability is on a steady rise. Residents utilize these conflicts as a response mechanism to the scarcity of water resources. The study concludes that this peculiarity poses challenges to communities with weak coping capacity and compounds their horizontal and vertical adaptation capabilities and strategies.