Indoor air quality constitutes a health hazard in poorly-ventilated dwellings without chimneys, where coal, wood, paraffin or dung are used as fuel. The electrification of houses will imprive this situation, as will the general improvement in housing design and construction brought about by the national housing policy. Susceptible terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems are likely to show adverse effects of acid deposition in a few decades if the current emission rates of sulphur dioxide and nitric oxide are continued or increased. Outcomes Linkages with other chapters Data issues Background information South Africa is a climatically sensitive country. Most crop agriculture in South Africa takes place where it is only just climatically suitable, particularly with respect to rainfall.
Water is the resource most limiting to national development.
Its availability now and in the future is closely linked to rainfall, temperature, management and land use practices. For more background information about climate and atmospheric change read this section. The direct causes of atmospheric change and the enhanced greenhouse effect , are human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and the clearing of natural vegetation for agricultural purposes. Sulphur dioxide and nitric oxide together are deposited as acids, which are corrosive to buildings and harmful to ecosystems as certain plant and animal species are very sensitive to changes in soil and water acidity. Acidification of surface water also makes it less suitable for drinking, irrigation, and industrial uses.