A global review of disaster reduction initiatives - Welcome to the ...

AfricaSouthern AfricaPolicy and public commitment: the foundation of disaster risk reduction3Extending south from theDemocratic Republic of theCongo and Tanzania, the SouthernAfrican Development Community(SADC) comprises fourteenmember states. With a populationof approximately 200 million,SADC includes the following countries;Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of theCongo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique,Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa,Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.In general, Southern Africa has not beenviewed as particularly prone to natural hazards,nor has it historically recorded massive lossesfrom sudden-onset disasters. Primarily, themajor risks that have affected the region havebeen slow-onset disasters related to drought,epidemic and food insecurity.Until the early 1990s, perceptions of risk wereshaped predominantly by armed conflicts andtheir destabilising consequences. In such acontext, it is unsurprising that issues of naturaldisaster risk received little attention. To a significantextent, prevailing disaster managementcapabilities have typically been grounded inmore narrowly focused efforts to monitor agriculturalconditions and food availability, or toplan emergency relief contingency measuresfocussed almost exclusively on droughts.There are a number of regional initiatives thatare now contributing to the growth of disasterreduction in Southern Africa, but it is importantto understand their antecedents. These date fromthe formation of the Southern African DevelopmentCoordination Conference (SADCC) in 1980, whichhad, as one of its priorities, the diversification oftransportation and communications throughoutthe region. To reduce the dependence of landlockedcountries on South African infrastructure,major investments to improve regional road andrail links was undertaken. These were consideredvital to the growth of struggling economies, butto an even more immediate extent, such infrastructurewas crucial for the movement of foodand relief supplies across the region in times ofdrought, conflict or other emergencies.By recognizing the strategic importance offood security, SADCC also made the subject apriority sector for regional coordination. Tothis end, it established the Regional EarlyWarning Unit which was tasked with consolidatingcrop information provided by nationalearly warning units of the individual countries,and monitoring trends in regional food security.From their inception, these SADCC mechanismsplayed key roles in assessing and managingrisks by establishing systems for the earlydetection and response to conditions of potentialfood shortages. Unlike institutional developmentsin other regions of the world, thesefirst political engagements with disaster reductionin Southern Africa countries were drivenby the protracted ravages of drought or otherslow-onset emergencies.Meanwhile, other political, social, economicand environmental changes have continued toshape the risk landscape in Southern Africa.With rapidly growing populations, many ofwhich are without acceptable levels of socialservices or sufficient economic opportunities,and increasingly concentrated in urban areas,the countries of the region already know thatthey can expect to be exposed to more hazardousthreats in the future. Since the floodsthat affected much of the region in 2000-2001,there is a growing recognition in official quartersof a much wider range of sudden threats.119