The Horn of Africa region is well known for its continuous vulnerability to outcomes of climate change especially drought and flood. Such disasters have claimed the lives of tens of thousands in the past more than 4 decades. Several efforts have been underway in the region to alleviate the impacts of climate change on the environment and human lives.
"For the last 2 decades starting from back there is 2009 to 2011 the region has experienced one of the worst droughts, which led to famine" says Hussein Seid (PhD), Climate Modeling Export with the IGAD Climate Prediction and Application Center (ICPAC)
"Then in 2015 again there was a very strong El Nino in then which led to droughts in the northern part of the region during the June to September rainfall season, which affected parts of Ethiopia, South Sudan and Sudan. Then in 2018/19, several tropical Cyclones occurred over the tropical Indian Ocean which again led to intense rainfall in our region and the region has experienced a very severe, rainfall. Then also in 2019, it was one of the strong Indian Ocean dipoles. Then again that also led to heavy rainfall, as you also might remember, during the start of 2020 and the region also experienced one of the worst, desert Locust Invasions because of those heavy rainfalls that happened in 2018/19. Then again from 2020 up to 2022, towards the end of the season towards the end of this year." He elaborated recently.
While looking for sustainable solution for climate change, it is also important to fortify early warning systems to mitigate the disaster against humans and their environment.
According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Early Warning Systems (EWS) are a proven cost-effective disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation measure which has been demonstrated to save lives, livelihoods and ecosystems in the face of climate-related hazards.
Hussein on his part explains that ICPAC as a regional climate Prediction Center predict the weather and climate conditions and we share this information with the various stakeholders, as well as the government agencies and also the International Organization. We are now expecting these trials than usual conditions, so governments and as well as humanitarian organizations need to prepare for that one. We need to move from this kind of reactive approach to a proactive approach. So the government should prepare, to mitigate or reduce this impact throughout rather than responding later on after it happened.
Research from the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) found that between 2000 and 2019, there were almost twice as many climate-related disasters as during the previous 20 years. The number of major floods, for example, doubled from 1,389 to 3,254. These disasters are being fuelled by the world's toxic love affair with carbon, according to climate change news. com.
There was a time in which people discussed what the impacts of climate change might be on our children or grandchildren. It is clear that the pace of change is happening right here and now. As the planet continues to warm we have to accept that an increased number of climate-related disasters is inevitable, despite what progress is made between now and 2050.
But accepting their occurrence doesn't mean we can't do anything about it. There exists a tried and tested approach to tackling the growth in climate disasters. One of the main solutions is to set up an effective early warning system (EWS). This simple concept has proven so popular that the UN has set a target for every person on the planet to be covered by an EWS by 2027. "The evidence is clear: early warning systems are one of the most effective risk reduction and climate adaptation measures to reduce disaster mortality and economic losses," the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, recently commented.
The Adaptation Fund was created to support communities against the impacts of climate change. Disaster risk reduction coupled with early warning systems now account for around 18% of all the projects it funds. To date it has helped install 526 early warning systems across all continents, at the local, national and regional levels.
Mikko Ollikainen, who heads up the fund, recently commented that "many of our projects are helping to reduce and avert further loss and damage," adding that "the fund is committed to supporting developing countries to build resilience to climate disasters. With the global urgency for adaptation expressed in recent international reports, such as the UNEP Adaptation Gap Report, we must accelerate and scale up our collective adaptation activities, including DRR/EWS. We have seen several instances where Adaptation Fund projects were successfully scaled up to create transformational DRR/EWS systems in countries."
Among the many projects which are now building out early warning systems, one in Colombia stands out. This small-scale, innovative example shows the benefits of a tailored approach working closely with local people. The La Mojana region in northern Colombia is an area of around 500,000 hectares, rich in wetlands and biodiversity. But it is also incredibly vulnerable to climate impacts and has frequently experienced bouts of severe flooding and drought.
At global level too, the role of reinforcing early warning systems in the prevention of climate related disasters is indisputable. With climate change, the frequency and intensity of climate-related hazards is expected to increase. Impact-based people-centred Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems (MHEWS) have a great potential to avert disaster risk and minimize loss & damage caused by climate-related hazards through supporting well-informed science-based decision-making. Giving just 24 hours' notice of an impending hazardous event could reduce damage by 30 percent, while investing just US$800 million in MHEWS in developing countries would prevent losses of $3 to $16 billion annually.
Funded by the Adaptation Fund and carried out by the UN Development Programme together with the Colombian government, the project aimed to protect and strengthen local communities to future climate impacts. It managed to achieve this, in part, through creating stronger flood infrastructure, restoring damaged wetland areas, and the creation of an early warning system. A hydro-meteorological forecast and alert centre was created to monitor water levels, map flood threats, and provide safe evacuation routes. This provided 100% coverage for thousands of people in the affected regions, up from zero a few years earlier.
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Juana Madariaga, a restoration expert, told UNDP that: "We learned about everything. We received a lot of training and finally we were able to move this project forward... now we are supporting other communities in doing the same thing." The success has been taken forward by the Green Climate Fund which has greatly scaled up the funding and coverage of the EWS to the wider region.
A recent study by AF concluded that the most successful disaster risk reduction projects shared many of the same characteristics. These include leading with the community, empowering women and indigenous groups to design the campaign, and ensuring strong involvement from regional and national institutions. In addition, strong investment in data collection and improving data quality is essential to ensuring long-term sustainability and effectiveness.
These ideas may seem straightforward on paper but each region is unique. When it comes to disaster risk the value comes through forming lasting partnerships, a willingness to learn, and an understanding of local concerns. If the number of climate disasters only continues to grow as expected, we will need to heed these lessons and fast.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD TUESDAY 9 JULY 2024
