The 21st Century climate challenge

Box 4.6Learning from experience in Mozambique4Countries cannot escape from the accidents of geography that people in the Zambezi basin. Yet on this occasion ‘only’ 80 peopleput them in harm’s way and increase their exposure to climate died and recovery was more rapid. What made the difference?risks. What they can do is reduce these risks through policies and The experience of the 2000 flood gave rise to intensive dialogueinstitutions that minimize impacts and maximize resilience. The within Mozambique and between Mozambique and its aid donors.experience of Mozambique powerfully demonstrates that public Detailed fl ood risk analysis was carried out across the country’spolicies can make a difference.river basins, identifying 40 districts with a population of 5.7 millionOne of the poorest countries in the world, Mozambique is ranked that were highly vulnerable to flooding. Community-based disaster172 out of 177 on the HDI and has more than one-third of its people risk management strategies and disaster simulation exercisesliving on less than US$1 a day. Progress in human development has were conducted in a number of high-risk basins. Meanwhile, thegathered pace over the past decade, but extreme climate events meteorological network was strengthened: in fl ood-prone Sofalaare a constant source of vulnerability. Tropical cyclones that gather province, for example, the number of stations was increased fromin the Indian Ocean are a major cause of storms and flooding. The 6 to 14. In addition, Mozambique has developed a tropical cycloneflooding is aggravated by the fact that Mozambique straddles the early warning system.lowland basins of nine major rivers—including the Limpopo and Mozambique’s policymakers also recognized the importanceZambezi—that drain vast areas of south-eastern Africa before of the mass media in disaster preparedness. Radio is particularlycrossing the country on their way to the ocean.important. The local language network of Radio MozambiqueIn 2000 Mozambique was hit on two fronts. Heavy rains at now provides regular updates on climate risks, communicatingthe end of 1999 swelled river systems to near record levels. Then, information from the National Institute of Meteorology. Duringin February 2000, cyclone Eline made landfall, causing extensive 2007, early warning systems and the media enabled governmentflooding in the centre and south of the country. Another cyclone— and local communities to identify the most at-risk areas in advance.Gloria—arrived in March to make a bad situation worse. Emergency Mass evacuations were carried out in the most threatened lowlyingdistricts. Elsewhere, emergency food supplies and medicalservices were overwhelmed and donors were slow to respond. Atleast 700 people died and 650,000 people were displaced.equipment were put in place before the floods arrived.During 2007 Mozambique was revisited by a similar climate While much remains to be done, Mozambique’s experienceevent. A powerful cyclone, accompanied by high rains, destroyed demonstrates how countries can learn to live with the threat of227,000 hectares of cropland and affected almost half a million floods, reducing vulnerability in at-risk communities.Source: Bambaige 2007; Chhibber and Laajaj 2006; IRI 2007; World Bank 2005b; WFP 2007.Adapting to the inevitable: national action and international cooperationby the topography and pattern of humansettlements in the countries that they strike.Even with this caveat, cross-country datasay something important: well-developedrisk management institutions work. Averageincome in Cuba is lower than in the DominicanRepublic—a country that faces comparableclimate risks. Yet in the decade to 2005 theinternational disasters database records thatCuba had around 10 times as many peopleaffected by disaster but less than one-seventh4.2 International cooperation on climatechange adaptationof the deaths. 51 Much of the difference can betraced to Cuba’s highly developed infrastructureand policies for managing climate risks. Withtropical storms set to increase in intensity, thereis considerable scope for cross-country learningfrom best practices in climate-related disasterrisk management. The conclusion: considerablebenefits can be gained from awareness-raisingand institutional organization—measuresthat do not have to entail high capitalinvestment.The UNFCCC sets out a bold agenda foraction on adaptation. It calls for internationalcooperation to prepare for the impacts of climatechange in areas that range from agriculture,through coastal defence management, tolowland cities at risk of flooding. Under this184 HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2007/2008