EAC set to build capacity in disaster risk management
East African Community (EAC) deputy secretary general Christopher Bazivamo
What you need to know:
- The region will equally address environmental challenges, which contribute to the natural disasters such as droughts and pollution.
Arusha. Management of disaster risks will be given due importance in East Africa because of their negative impacts to the people’s livelihood.
The region will equally address environmental challenges, which contribute to the natural disasters such as droughts and pollution.
“We have to strengthen the capacity of the local communities and governments to reduce and manage disaster risks,” said the East African Community (EAC) deputy secretary general Christopher Bazivamo here on Monday.
He made the remark when opening the week-long fifth Sectoral Council on Environment and Natural Resources meeting for experts and officials from the six partner states.
He said the East African region was facing numerous environmental disasters and which, according to him, undermined efforts to improve the quality of life of citizens.
“Pollution, desertification, deterioration of aquatic and freshwater ecosystems, climate change and loss of biodiversity have always been mentioned as the major ones,” he said.
Among the projects, which will receive priority under the fifth EAC Development Plan are protection of water bodies and water catchment areas in order to address the vagaries of drought.
Others will include raising awareness on the importance of shared water resources and promotion of climate change resilient crops, animals and fisheries. With the region often vulnerable to natural hazards, disaster management relating to unfavourable weather conditions and environmental degradation have received the attention of the policy makers.
During the marking of the International Day for Disaster Reduction last year, it was revealed that up to 400,000 people had been displaced by both man-made and natural hazards in the EA region.
Most of them are attributed to the impact of climate change being the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events and environmental degradation. In 2016, the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) passed the EAC Disaster Risk Reduction and Disaster Management Bill, 2013.
The Bill is aimed to enable the region to take the necessary disaster preparedness, management, protection and mitigation of different forms of such calamities. EAC region like any other regions in the world is suffering from Disasters that are caused by natural and man-made hazards.
