How to Catalyse a Shift to Disaster Risk Management in Fragile and Conflict Settings
Nov 12, 2024
|
Katie Peters
View Original
For those concerned with the rupturing effects of climate shocks and disasters on developmental progress across Africa, catalysing a shift to disaster risk management (DRM) in conflict-affected settings has become increasingly necessary. Climate shocks and disasters in Africa increasingly coincide with fragility and conflict. During October 2024, floods swept through West and Central Africa and El Niño-induced droughts debilitated Southern Africa.
At international forums – the Berlin Climate and Security Conference to Africa Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (AfRP) in Namibia – a persistent concern permeated the discussions. This colocation poses severe risks to Africa's development and stability.
Countries hardest hit by the floods, including Chad, Niger, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Cameroon, form a distressingly familiar list. All but one – Guinea, which itself contends with recent political turbulence – are on the World Bank's classification of fragile and conflict-affected situations.