Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - As climate change impacts become more extreme, the international community is being urged to support African countries strengthen their capacities to reduce, prepare and manage disaster impacts in a continent where many countries are not prepared to manage climate change disaster. Saying that Africa does not have the capacity to predict disasters, the African Union Commission director for rural economy and agriculture, Abebe Haile Gabriel, urged the international community to support African countries to prepare better for disasters instead of focusing on providing assistance after a disaster has occurred.

“In Africa, we do not have the capacity to predict what is going to happen and even when we say we are prepared, the impact is more than we can manage and unfortunately the international community support comes after the disaster happens and not before,” Gabriel told PANA here.

Gabriel, who also spoke at the launch of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (known as SREX), said efforts and investments directed at managing risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation are extremely important in Africa.

A report on “Managing Climate Extremes and Disasters in Africa: Lessons from the IPCC SREX Report”, launched in parallel with the IPCC Special Report Wednesday in Addis Ababa, says existing risk management measures need to be improved as many countries in Africa are poorly adapted to current extremes and risks, so are not prepared for the future.

In February 2000, floods killed more than 700 people and over half a million people lost their homes, while more than 4.5 million people were affected. These losses were reportedly associated with institutional, technical and financial problems.

But in 2007 when a similar flooding occurred, the country was much better prepared and 29 people were killed, 140,000 displaced and 285,000 people affected. About 12,800 people at risk from rising river levels had been prepared by training.

The report cites early warning systems, land use planning, development and enforcement of building codes, improvements to health surveillance, or ecosystem management and restoration as some of wide range of measures that needs to be improved upon.

It called on the countries to reassess their investments in measures to manage disaster risk and that this needs to be fully integrated into planning processes, including through improved continuous data collection for floods, droughts and cyclones, among other things.

Gabriel, however, casts some doubts at the international community’s commitment to address climate change impacts, charging that although there is a principle collective responsibility to address it, this responsibility should be differentiated and those who have created the problems in the first place, should contribute more towards addressing it.

He noted that there have been calls for the big emitters to reduce greenhouse gases and also to support developing countries including Africa’s efforts to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Gabriel said: “If you look at the contributions so far, there is nothing substantial. Nothing really is happening. And you may ask, is climate change situation improving? It is not really improving, the reason being that big emitters like the United States are not even willing to enter into an agreement with the rest of the world.

'The international community have not been putting much pressure on those countries such as the United States to come to the negotiating table and address the issue.”

In recent years, extreme weather and climate events have taken many lives and caused billions of dollars in economic losses, according to IPCC.

Pana 10/05/2012