…The document indicates that floods are the most widespread natural disasters in Africa, while droughts affect a greater number of people, highlighting the need for African countries to step up investments in early warning systems.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, 26 July 2024 -/African Media Agency (AMA)/- African Risk Capacity (ARC) has released a white paper on the state of natural disasters in Africa. The paper, titled “The State of Natural Disasters in Africa”, highlights a growing concern: the increasing frequency of weather-related natural disasters and their devastating economic impact on the continent. Over the past decade, the frequency of disasters has steadily increased, from 32 incidents in 2014 to 56 occurrences in 2023, mainly due to floods, in 29 African countries for which data are available. African governments are estimated to have spent $2.2 billion to manage weather-related natural disasters in 2023, of which Libya accounts for about 25%, representing more than 0.5% of the country’s GDP.
Climate change is causing more frequent and severe weather events, such as droughts and floods, which result in significant loss of life, destruction of livelihoods and displacement of communities. By analysing the economic burden of weather-related disasters on African nations, the paper provides an overview of the cost of disaster risk management, explores the current trajectory of weather-related events and proposes response mechanisms for effective disaster management.
“Understanding the current state of disaster risk management and the challenges and opportunities it presents is essential to developing effective response strategies. The publication of the ARC White Paper marks an important milestone in our ambition to contribute to knowledge creation,” said Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, UN Under-Secretary-General and ARC Group Chief Executive Officer.
Floods are more common than droughts, but droughts affect large numbers of people.
In the 29 African countries for which statistics were available, 1,436 disasters were recorded between 2000 and 2023. The paper shows that 66% of these events were related to floods, 15.4% to storms and 11.7% to droughts. The impact of heavy rainfall has been intensified by deforestation and poor land management practices. Although floods dominate, the data show that droughts have affected more people. For example, in 2014, about
5 recorded drought events affected more than 25 million people, while 20 floods affected less than 1 million people. This observed trend is consistent across the period covered by the data.
Tracking the trend in weather-related natural disasters since 2000, Africa ranks third among five continental regions in terms of the number of weather-related natural disasters: Asia, the Americas, Europe and Oceania. The most affected countries on the continent are South Africa, Mozambique and Madagascar in southern Africa, Nigeria in the west and a strip extending north-east from Angola to Ethiopia and Somalia in the Horn of Africa.
Munich Re estimates the total direct economic losses suffered by the continent as a result of these events during the year at $8 billion. Storm Daniel in Libya and Tropical Cyclone Freddy in Mozambique are two of the most severe events to occur in Africa in 2023, with economic losses estimated at $1.65 billion and $1.53 billion, respectively.
In addition, the white paper shows that changing weather conditions are promoting the spread of water-borne diseases, such as cholera, and insect-borne diseases, such as malaria, threatening the progress made in reducing the incidence of epidemics since 2000.
Furthermore, the document highlights gender inequalities in the aftermath of natural disasters. It recognizes that while natural disasters do not result in gender discrimination, their consequences are not gender neutral. Women bear a disproportionate burden during natural disasters due to limited resources and structural factors that expose them to higher risks.
Increase investment in early warning systems
The paper highlights the importance of early warning systems and their potential to save lives, introducing Africa RiskView, ARC’s early warning system designed to anticipate and manage climate risks.
“It is simply unacceptable that only 40 per cent of Africa is currently covered by early warning systems and that even these are compromised by quality issues,” Mr Diong noted, stressing that just 24 hours’ notice of an impending hazardous event can reduce the resulting damage by up to 30 per cent.
According to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, countries with extensive or complete early warning coverage experience one-eighth the mortality from disasters compared to countries with limited or no coverage, highlighting the significant life-saving benefits of investing in early warning systems.
African countries embrace parametric insurance
Beyond its proprietary early warning system, the ARC white paper also outlines unique features of ARC’s offering, such as its capacity building program and parametric risk insurance offering.
The ARC value proposition brings together four essential elements of Member State preparedness: capacity building, early warning, risk pooling and risk transfer, to create a pan-African climate change response system. ARC is an African solution that contributes to building resilience and managing extreme climate risks and disease outbreaks on the continent.
There is growing evidence that African countries are increasingly focusing on disaster risk reduction, as evidenced by the increase in the number of countries participating in ARC risk pools. Over the past ten years, to 2023, the insured value has increased from $129 million to $186 million, with much of it covering drought risk. Despite financial challenges, the number of insured countries has increased from four in 2014 to thirteen in 2022 and then to twenty-four in 2023.
“Africa’s journey in disaster management and resilience building is accelerating, but there is still a long way to go,” said Mr. Diong. “With competing development priorities such as education and healthcare, many countries lack the resources to put in place robust disaster risk management strategies.
The results of this research show that there is an urgent need to intensify capacity building efforts for risk reduction in Africa.”
Click here to read the white paper in its entirety.
Distributed by African Media Agency pour IC Publications.
About African Risk Capacity (ARC)
The African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group is comprised of the ARC Agency and ARC Insurance Company Limited (ARC Ltd). The ARC Agency was established in 2012 as a specialised agency of the African Union to support Member States in building their capacity to better plan, prepare for and respond to climate-related disasters and epidemics. ARC Ltd, the Group’s financial subsidiary, is a mutual insurance organisation responsible for providing risk transfer services to Member States through risk pooling and access to reinsurance markets.
For more information please visit: www.arc.int
Source : African Media Agency (AMA)
2024-07-26 11:30:29
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