BY DARGIE KAHSAY
The Horn of Africa region is among the most vulnerable regions of the world to climate change and its impacts. The region repeatedly is affected by severe droughts, famine, pest invasion, flooding and other climate-driven disasters. These climate-related impacts affect the region’s livelihood and economy.
The region’s economy, mostly rain feed agriculture and naturalism, is highly vulnerable to climate change and its impacts. Currently, drought is affecting some parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia and during the past two years, the countries in the region are struggling with the invasion of Desert Locust which destroys crops and grazing lands.
The world is becoming hot and climate change and its effects are becoming worsening at the global and continental levels. The horn of Africa, as the most vulnerable and affected region, remains the top vulnerable to these continued climate change effects and impacts. To minimize the impacts of climate change and its impacts and to develop the mitigation and adaptation actions of the regional countries, it is necessarily important to have capable institutions with the latest technological advancements at national and regional levels for early warning and to provide appropriate policy inputs for decision-makers and actors.
In this regard, the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) Climate Prediction and Application Center (ICPAC) is struggling to fill the gap in the sector for decades and plays its role in developing resilience in the region. ICPAC is providing services for all 11 countries of the member states of the IGAD. On Wednesday, ICPAC officially has inaugurated a new and modern methodological centre in Ngong’, near the Kenyan capital Nairobi, according to the ICPAC press statement.
The new centre, according to ICPAC, includes a Disaster Operations Center with and situation room that will monitor major hazards and provide regional early warnings for drought, extreme rainfall, food insecurity and pests like a desert locust. ICPAC in its statement noted that the centre is committed to continuing to champion innovation in earth monitoring systems, open data access, and multi-hazard early warning systems.
“The opening of the situation room follows the launch of East Africa Hazards Watch in July – a system developed by ICPAC to meet the growing need for public and cross-border risk information due to increasing climate extremes. The system, the first of its kind in Africa, allows tracking climate hazards increasing in frequency and intensity due to climate change,” the centre on its statement sent to The Ethiopian Herald pointed out.
During the opening ceremony of the centre, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta stated that ICPAC is providing services of climate forecasting, disaster risk management, agriculture and food insecurity, environmental monitoring and water-related issues to the countries of the IGAD region. “These services are indeed critical to building climate resilience in all 11 countries of the IGAD region,” Kenyatta said.
President Kenyatta during his speech addressed that our planet is experiencing unexpected changes and impacts due to climate change. To take appropriate actions and minimize the impacts, it is critical to develop scientific institutions for science-based predictions and solutions. The climate change in the IGAD region is a significant threat and exasperate food insecurity and natural disasters including public health, he added.
The economic development of the region is also backing-up by the repeated droughts and famines due to climate change. Hence, he said, to build a climate resilience economy in the region by minimizing the impacts of climate change, it is important to develop the capacity of regional institutions working on climate change actions. “The inauguration of this facility, therefore, is a great leap forward” to develop the actions and struggles of the region against climate change, Kenyatta stated.
“The centre harnesses innovative technologies and knowledge to advance climate-related work initiated about three decades ago,” Kenyatta argued adding “over the years, the centre has enabled the Horn of Africa to grow climate scientists and create strong networks.” The new centre with modern and innovative technologies is expected to further and develop its service provision with evidence-based approaches towards the empowerment of vulnerable populations.
According to him, the centre is crucial to provide high-quality climate data for the entire IGAD region and for tracking and monitoring the desert locusts’ swarms thus allowing for targeted interventions with timely predictions.
Meanwhile, ICPAC’s Director Dr Guleid Artan stated that “in times of climate extremes and increased intensity and frequency of hazards, it is key to provide quality climate services and early warnings,” adding “climate doesn’t stop at borders and having strong intergovernmental institutions able to provide early warnings is the appropriate solution.”
Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Workneh Gebeyehu (PhD) also underlines the necessity of the development and strengthening of regional institutions like ICPAC to tackle the regional climate impacts. “The weather is changing faster than the policies and actions we can formulate to respond to is,” Workneh said adding “it requires deliberate far-reaching changes” in attitude and aspirations to handle the problem.
Though climate change is affecting the globe without any difference in size and wealth, Africa remains at the front lines in experiencing the impacts of climate change, the Executive Secretary added. “Africa is warming much faster than the global average according to the recent IPCC assessment report,” he reiterated. “Projections show that,” Workneh said, “the IGAD region is heat op twice as faster as the rest of the world.”
According to the Executive Secretary, in the IGAD region, economies and livelihoods are highly sensitive to climate variability and change due to high dependency to rain feed agriculture, pastoralism and other forms of dependency. “Hydrometeorological hazards account for about 90 per cent of naturally induced disasters in the IGAD region” Workneh noted “these disasters are getting more frequent and intense affecting millions of people,” he added.
Intense flooding has displaced over 700 thousand people in South Sudan this year alone and affected six million people in the region last year, the IGAD head stated. Severe drought is also affecting Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia threatening the food security situation for millions. Desertification is also expanding in the region and locust invasion remains a threat for the IGAD region, according to Workneh.
To turn around from the greatest threat, Workneh said, scientific predictions and early warning systems are key for endurance and survival. Hence, he noted, the ICPAC centre will help for the enhancement of climate service to support policy formulation and decision making as well as adoption strategies in the region by providing timely climate information and predictions.
Workneh reiterated with the supports and recommendations of the centre, IGAD will develop its measures collaborating with its member states to limit the impacts of climate change. By developing the capacity of the climate wing, IGAD has focused to develop awareness about climate change and enable users with well-informed decisions.
“IGAD is drafting a climate change strategy that aims to promote a climate resilience and green economy in the region” Workneh noted adding that the ICPAC centre is supporting the regional fighting against climate change with timely information and early warning predictions.
The Ethiopian Herald October 29/2021
