Climate is set to change for the worse because of rising global emissions of greenhouse gases, according to a report on climate change released on Thursday.The report was released in Johannesburg by Oxfam International and Earthlife Africa.
According to the report, South Africa is already living on the edge because of changing climate.
"Much of South Africa is arid or semi-arid and the whole country is subject to drought and floods.
"Even small variations in rainfall or temperatures would exacerbate this already stressed environment."
The report said most of South African crops were already grown in areas with limited water supplies. According to scientists the planet is heating up and human activity is the cause.
"We already see indications of a dire future, with the Arctic ice sheet melting at rates faster than scientists predicted, and methane already bubbling up from the ocean floor," said Tristen Taylor, an energy policy officer from Earthlife Africa.
Taylor said in South Africa there were already changes in species distribution patterns, an indication of changes to wind and rainfall patterns.
As the climate changed, it was South Africa's poor, the majority of the population, who would be hit hardest, because this worsened the existing vulnerability.
It also added to the pressures on the environment and natural resources many citizens relied on, said the report.
The report said climate change could increase the prevalence and distribution of vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, and water-borne diseases such as cholera and dysentery.
"Such things mean people living with HIV and Aids in particular would experience increased risks."
According to the report, South Africa had a moral obligation to reduce its emissions, as the largest emitter of green house gases on the African continent.
"This is a massive task with very tight deadline, the current thinking is that global emissions must peak no later than 2015. We only have six years to go but it seems the world is still fiddling with insignificant actions.
"If it weren't so tragic, it would be farce," said Taylor.
