In South Africa’s oldest township, volunteers in wetsuits jump into the thigh-deep water of the polluted Jukskei River to untangle a net that's designed to trap garbage but damaged by heavy rains. Without the nets, the shacks of low-lying Alexandra on the outskirts of Johannesburg could face disastrous flooding.

Alexandra's over half a million residents live within steps of South Africa’s richest financial district, Sandton. But flooding often submerges bridges, leaving the township's children unable to get to school. It is a “big hazard,” said Semadi Manganye, a resident and co-founder of the volunteer group, the Alexandra Water Warriors.

South Africa to push rich nations at historic G20 summit

World leaders with the Group of 20 rich and developing nations will meet this weekend in Johannesburg for the bloc’s first summit in Africa. Host South Africa wants to prioritise issues affecting poor countries, including responses to disasters made worse by climate change.

South Africa will urge rich countries and international financial institutions to help more — a plea also being made at global climate talks in Brazil.

Climate ravages hit poor hardest

“The ravages of the climate are directly linked to the ravages of inequality,” Binaifer Nowrojee, president of the Open Society Foundations, told The Associated Press. “Countries are facing the destructive choice between growing their economies and taking climate action.”

The World Bank says the poorest countries were hit by nearly eight times as many natural disasters in the decade from 2010-2020 as they were from 1980-1990.

Southern Africa has been struck by strong tropical storms in the past decade, killing thousands of people and leaving nations with unbearable rebuilding costs.

Funding gap widens as US Skips Summit

Rich countries agreed at last year’s United Nations climate summit to pool at least $300 billion a year by 2035 to help developing countries deal with the impacts of climate change and weather disasters. But independent experts said much more — an estimated $1 trillion a year — was needed by 2030.

One of the world's largest polluters, the United States, won't even attend this weekend's G20 summit as it boycotts over US President Donald Trump’s widely rejected claims that South Africa is violently persecuting a white minority.

Green jobs offer hope amid inequality

The Alexandra Water Warriors have considered themselves the guardians of their environment since they formed in 2021, planting native trees to reduce urban heat and collecting and recycling trash from the river.

Ntombi Maponya is one of around 3,000 people working with the Alexandra Water Warriors or other local projects who are rewarded with a small monthly stipend from a private-public collection of donors that includes the South African and Canadian governments. “When the 25th of every month comes around, you begin to smile,” she said.

Climate resilience should be seen as a strategy to spur development, said Cameroonian economist Vera Songwe. “The good news ... is that actually green, sustainable and resilient growth is much faster growth,” she told reporters.