Living with Risk. A global review of disaster reduction initiatives

Policy and public commitment: the foundation of disaster risk reduction
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Objectives of the SADC strategy for floods and drought management in the region
Source: SADC Water Sector Coordination Unit, 2001
The Regional Remote Sensing Unit (RRSU) of
FANR collaborates closely with the Regional
Early Warning Unit by working to strengthen
national and regional capabilities in the area of
remote sensing and GIS applications. It offers
a range of specialized services for use in early
warning for food security and natural resources
management, including training agro-meteorologists
in the use of satellite imagery products.
It processes and disseminates a variety of satellite
information pertaining to meteorological
conditions, vegetation distribution, crop outlooks
and other development indicators. It is
also used to monitor and map land use patterns,
land degradation and desertification conditions.
The resulting information is distributed
to a wide-range of users throughout
Southern Africa, including government ministries,
private trading and industrial sectors,
banking and finance groups, farming organi-
zations, NGOs, and international development
assistance organizations.
While the RRSU has already provided important
data related to seasonal flood and drought
risk, it anticipates being able to strengthen its
capacities in disaster reduction by generating
an integrated flood and drought risk profile for
Southern Africa in cooperation with the US
Geological Survey. In a more general sense,
RRSU can assume even wider importance to
regional cooperation in disaster reduction as
the combined effects of climate variation and
the needs for monitoring environmental conditions
become more integrated into future risk
management practices.
Despite the specific nature of its name, the
SADC Drought Monitoring Centre (DMC)
located at the Zimbabwe Meteorological Service
has a primary responsibility to monitor climate
extremes, especially as they relate to
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