Climate change and variability is contributing to increased frequency, intensity and scale of disasters particularly hydro-meteorological hazards (floods and drought) in Zambia, as well as in many parts of the African continent. Among the disasters the country has experienced in the last 5 years include; increased flooding, prolonged dry spells, extreme temperatures, rainy/wind storms, epidemics (both human and animals) and crop pest infestation (Fall armyworms). These disasters have occasioned a trail of devastation which include loss of lives, damage to property, livelihoods, the environment, and infrastructure. Additionally, human and animal displacements have been on the increase.
Zambia currently faces unprecedented energy, water and humanitarian crisis as a result of the El Nino induced drought which has affected a number of countries in the SADC Region. This is the worst drought in the last 40 years and the country has an estimated 5.8 million people that needs humanitarian assistance from now up to the next harvest in 2025. The country had to re-align its national budget to implement life-saving and life-sustaining, resilience building and early recovery interventions. The 2024 National Drought Response Plan requires an estimated 1.4 billion USD to be successfully implemented. Unfortunately, Resource mobilisation has been slow and this brings to the fore the urgent need to scale up disaster risk reduction and anticipatory actions to save millions of dollars needed in response going forward.
As a country, we have developed a robust framework for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. The Sendai framework and the Programme of Action for the implementation of the Sendai Framework 2015 - 2030 in Africa have been domesticated through the National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework (2017 - 2030). With the growing realisation that effective disaster risk management contributes to sustainable development, the Eighth (8) National Development Plan (8NDP) for Zambia has a dedicated development outcome focusing on Disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Additionally, the entire national development framework has adopted a risk-informed approach by ensuring that DRR and CCA is mainstreamed across all the sectors.
Disaster Risk Reduction focal point persons across government sectors have been appointed to ensure that disaster risk reduction is at the core of sector plans and policies. Further, disaster risk reduction is being strengthened across all geographies especially with the recruitment of dedicated Disaster Risk Management Officers at sub-national level.
In order to enhance disaster risk knowledge, the country has among others, been undertaking In-depth Vulnerability and Needs Assessments, risk profiling and hazard mapping. Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) has been enhanced over the years to ensure that communities are capacitated to understand their exposure, vulnerability to hazards and strengthen their resilience.
The country has also been strengthening a people-centred early warning systems across the entire value chain. We are improving our weather observations and forecasting through installation of automated weather stations and generally improving climate information services. The country is currently implementing the Weather and Climate Information Services (WISER) project. Working with all the specialised agencies of the United Nations, we are improving our communication and dissemination of early warning information and enhancing the capacity to respond through the development of community-based preparedness plans.
Disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk has been strengthened through the robust disaster management structure with committees established from the national to sub-national levels. These committees such as the District Disaster Management Committees at sub-national level and the Satellite Disaster Management Committees at Community level comprise state and non-state actors in disaster risk management.
Investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience has been a priority for the country through forecast-based financing, emergency social cash transfer and climate related insurance schemes. The country has so far been indemnifying districts prone to drought for the last 4 seasons through insurance from the African Risk capacity. For example, the country received a pay-out of 9.8 million USD from the African Risk Capacity for the districts that were affected by drought during the 2023/2024 farming season. Further, the country is currently developing a Disaster Risk Financing Strategy with the help of cooperating partners.
While some progress has been made toward realisation of the Sendai Framework targets, Zambia still has inadequate disaster data especially on economic and non-economic loss and damage. Gaps still exist in timely data collection and analysis. The multi-hazard early warning system is yet to be fully integrated as some sector early warning systems still operate in silos. The other challenge relates to financing disaster risk reduction which is not matched with increased economic costs of disasters. Existing early warning systems still remain limited in scope and coverage and most remote geographical areas are not reached with early warning information. The country is fully aware of these challenges and is addressing some of the highlighted challenges with cooperating partners; for example, Zambia is currently developing a Disaster Risk Financing Strategy as already mentioned.
While some significant progress has been made in implementing the Programme of Action and the Sendai framework (2015 - 2030), enhancing collaboration and cooperation within the Disaster Risk Reduction community is imperative. There is urgent need to catalyze technical assistance, sharing experiences and best practices between the global north and the global south. We also need to leverage on private sector participation and leave no one behind in our disaster risk reduction agenda.
We also call for a pragmatic approach to the Early Warning For All (EW4All) initiative and ensure that it is responsive, country-driven and circumstantial to country-specific needs. At the moment, the initiative is limited in scope, coverage and providing the country-specific needs of a people centred-early warning system.