The southern African region is currently facing one of the worst droughts it has seen in decades, with millions said to be facing extreme food insecurity and water shortages, amidst a growing climate crisis, fuelled by the El Niño weather phenomenon.
A recent meeting took place between Reena Ghelani, UN Assistant Secretary General and Climate Crisis Coordinator for the El Niño/La Niña response; Menghestab Haile, World Food Programme RD; and Ibrahima Cheikh Diong UN Assistant Secretary General and African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group Director General, where stakeholders discussed the response to the drought emergency to minimise the impact on lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable.
The ongoing drought is a clear example of the impacts of climate change, however it is exacerbated by El Niño, a weather pattern of unusually warm water on the surface of the Pacific Ocean that is leading to higher temperatures and lower rainfall across southern Africa.
It is said that across southern Africa, around 20 million people are facing crisis levels of acute hunger because of the El Niño-induced drought.
“The farmers I met in Mozambique and Zambia told me that this drought is one of the worst they’ve experienced. For many of them, there will be nothing to harvest. That is why we need to provide food and cash assistance urgently. At the same time, the burden of climate change on these countries calls for a more comprehensive and sustainable approach to these recurring crises,” said Ghelani.
“Once again, we are seeing the impact of extreme weather events on the lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable, and we have to do all that is in our power to cushion this impact. Our hearts go out to the affected governments and their people as they work to comprehend the true extend of this disaster. Drought conditions are widespread across the southern African region and communities are facing extreme hunger, limited water supply and malnutrition, not to mention the loss of income from their agricultural activities,” added Ibrahima Cheikh Diong.
It is important to highlight that before the start of the 2023/24 agricultural season, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe, countries all of which are severely affected by this crisis, made the decision to participate in ARC risk pools for drought.
Moreover, based on early projections from ARC’s season monitoring tools, all four countries are expected to receive insurance payouts, however this will be confirmed at the end of the season.
In addition, the risk pools, run by ARC Limited, the insurance affiliate of the ARC Group, avail timely funds to facilitate early response to a disaster event.
“The drought is hitting at a time of significant protracted unmet needs, with alarming food insecurity and malnutrition levels, and funding shortages that have stalled humanitarian activities. The drought has decimated livelihoods across southern Africa. The El Niño weather phenomenon serves as a poignant reminder of the climate crisis – and how urgent it is to scale up investment in activities that build resilience. Communities must be empowered with climate adaptation skills that will enable them to mitigate, reduce, and absorb the effects of climate shocks,” commented Menghestab Haile.
Furthermore, as part of the ARC Replica programme, Replica partners for the four countries: World Food Programme, StartNetwork and UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) are also likely to receive a payout.
This is a major factor to highlight, due to the fact that not only does this programme complement other response activities from the countries, but it also heavily contributes towards increasing the resources to reach vulnerable populations.
Therefore, in preparation for the end of the agricultural season, it has been confirmed, that ARC, together with the in-country Technical Working Groups of the four countries, are in the process of finalising the Final Implementation Plans (FIP), a document that outlines the use of an ARC payout ahead of the end of season.
“This is a region we have assisted with significant drought payouts in the past. In 2022, we paid out to $14.2 million to Malawi’s Replica partner, the World Food Programme; $5.3 million to Zambia and $1,4 million to Zimbabwe. The impact of disaster events goes beyond the immediate socio-economic costs and in the absence of instruments such as ARC, disaster such as drought can easily trap vulnerable populations into perpetual cycles of poverty. It is our honour work closely with the four countries’ Disaster Risk Management structures and contribute to their resilience building efforts. It is moments like these when we can demonstrate the true impact of our work,” said Lesley Ndlovu, CEO of ARC Limited.
It is very clear that this ongoing crisis stresses the importance of instruments such as the ARC solution in helping to build resilience and facilitating recovery efforts.
Lastly, it also demonstrates the value of collaborations between partners to support Africa’s resilience building efforts.
