A new regional mechanism is being established to coordinate disaster risk management in southern Africa.
A formal structure for cooperation is expected to ensure a coordinated approach for regional responses to challenges posed by climate change in the 16 member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
SADC and its International Cooperating Partners (ICPs) “have agreed to establish a new ‘Thematic Group on Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management’ for purposes of ensuring a robust engagement mechanism on climate change-related issues”, according to an SADC report.
The planned establishment of the new group comes as SADC member states have resolved to intensify efforts to ensure better preparedness in the face of frequent and increasingly severe climate change-related disasters, says Egline Tauya in an article published on the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC) website.
Speaking during a virtual SADC Council of Ministers meeting last week, the outgoing council chairperson, Prof Palamagamba John Kabudi, called for the strengthening of climate resilience as well as general preparedness against other natural and people-made disasters such as the Covid-19 pandemic, droughts and floods.
In the past few decades, southern Africa has experienced an increasing frequency and severity of droughts, floods, cyclones and locusts which have been attributed to climate change and variability, resulting in food insecurity and other socio-economic impacts, according to Tauya.
Against this background, the Council of Ministers has called on member states to strengthen the implementation of resilience-building initiatives and contingency planning, as well as improve early warning and response mechanisms to minimise the impact of disasters and natural hazards on the people of the region.
However, despite progress in policy formulation, one of the major challenges inhibiting this is the lack of sufficient funding, given that the SADC Regional Disaster Preparedness and Response Strategy and Fund is inadequately resourced.
Member states have agreed to establish a Regional Development Fund (RDF) to mobilise financial resources to support infrastructure, social development, disaster risk and regional integration. sardc.net
