Author: Pios Ncube (Ph.D.), Director
Abstract:
The hazard profile of Southern Africa comprises floods, droughts, pests and diseases, cyclones and earthquakes, which often trigger disasters which pose significant impediments to sustainable development in the region. The impacts of disaster events, which are sometimes transboundary and will be exacerbated by climate change, are differentiated by economic development status.Poor countries are disproportionately affected,owingto their intrinsic vulnerabilities and comparatively low capabilities for risk reduction measures, while richer countries experience the largest economic costs. Vulnerability reduction will likely reduce disaster impacts. Hence, disaster risk reduction (DRR)is critical to the attainment of sustainable development goals (SDGs). DRR aims to ensure that decision-makers, roleplayers, and communities understand their exposure to disaster risk, so that they can take protective action. Therefore, it is imperative to escalate efforts towards implementation of risk-informed decision making across all sectors and facets of life and ecosystems in the region to address issues of social inequalities and associated structural disparities, economic development, ecosystems protection, application and protection of indigenous knowledge systems. Measures to reduce disaster risks are embodied in international frameworks such as the Hyogo Framework for DRR and the subsequent Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015 – 2030, as well as forming core aspects of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Based on the interconnectedness of DRR, climate change adaptation and sustainable development, the recent transboundary cyclone events provide an opportunity to review current DRR strategies, most of which have remained linear approaches, which as we saw recently, do not offer much remedy in the face of disaster risks in the region. The relevance of non-linear DRR approaches based on the understanding of the systemic nature of disaster risk requires that we use the recent disasters to take stock of our performance in DRR and sustainable development as individual Member States and as a bloc.
