The African Union has established a number of in-stitutional structures to support Africa’s develop-ment agenda (African Union Commission, 2013).
These include:
African Union: the Union is charged with spear-heading Africa’s rapid integration, prosperity and sustainable development by promoting politi-cal and economic unity, solidarity, cohesion and cooperation among the peoples of Africa and African States, as well as developing new part-nerships worldwide. The African Union vision is to “build an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, an Africa driven and managed by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the international arena.”
African Union Commission: provides the secre-tariat for the African Union. It plays a pivotal role in facilitating the integration of the continent.
Harmonization of coordination and of policies is particularly relevant for the mainstreaming of dis-aster risk reduction.
NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency: the Agency has a specific institutional mandate to address Africa’s development and transforma-tion challenge. As a technical body of the African Union, the Agency’s mandate is to facilitate, co-ordinate and translate strategy and policy frame-works into concrete programmes; mobilize re-sources and partners’ support for the implemen-tation of continental and regional priority pro-grammes and projects; and monitor and evaluate their implementation in close collaboration with regional economic communities and member States.
Regional economic communities: considered the building pillars of the African Union, these provide inputs on subregional priorities into the develop-ment of continental frameworks and translate these continental frameworks into concrete
sub-regional programmes in close collaboration with the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency and member States. Regional economic communities are also responsible for monitoring and evaluat-ing the implementation of regional programmes and mobilizing resources for these programmes in close collaboration with the Agency, while pro-viding technical support to member States in the implementation of regional programmes. They also provide regular progress reports on the im-plementation of Regional Programmes.
Member States have the ultimate responsibility to integrate continental and subregional policy, legal and strategic frameworks into national de-velopment plans and laws and to ensure imple-mentation and monitoring at the national level.
Strategic partnerships: the African Union Commission has established extensive strategic partnerships across the world such as the Africa-India Forum Summit, the Africa-South America Summit, the Africa-European Union Partnership, Africa-Turkey Summit, African Union Australia Cooperation, African Union Commission-United States of America Cooperation, Afro-Arab Cooperation, African Union Commission-Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Secretariat Partnership, African Union Commission-Organisation of American States General Secretariat Partnership, Africa-Japan partnerships and cooperation between the African Union Commission and the Commonwealth Secretariat.
All these are designed to leverage resources and technology to support Africa’s development.
In close collaboration with ECA, the African Development Bank and other partners, efforts have been made to mobilize governments to pro-mote common African positions in multilateral and regional forums, including the development of common African positions on economic part-nership agreements, the World Trade Organization and the African Growth and Opportunity Act,
climate change and sustainable development (Rio+20).
The institutional structures outlined above are the mechanisms through which the African Union implements its development programmes to contribute to the welfare of the African people, as well as placing the region competitively in global arena. They also represent mechanisms and op-portunities for the mainstreaming of disaster risk reduction into Africa’s development and transfor-mation agenda.
2.2 Africa’s vulnerability and the risks and causes of disasters
Absolute poverty and low levels of socio-eco-nomic development with the associated hunger drive Africa’s vulnerability to disasters. The under-lying disaster risk factors include environmental degradation, including land degradation, poor social and economic infrastructure, poor health status and poor urban development.
Poverty: Poverty remains the main source of vul-nerability and main driver of disaster risk in Africa.
Africa is 41 per cent short of the 2015 MDG target on reducing poverty, compared with 25 per cent for South Asia and 6 per cent for Latin America.
Although Africa has experienced a decline in pov-erty rates and in the number of absolute poor, the rate of decline is too slow to achieve the MDG tar-get by 2015 (African Union Commission, 2013).
Although poverty in Africa is concentrated in ru-ral areas, there is now a growing phenomenon of rising urban poverty as rural populations migrate to urban areas in search of better opportunities;
on arrival they often find themselves living in de-plorable urban conditions. In addition to persis-tent poverty, there has also been slow progress in reducing the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. The 2011 Global Hunger Index of
International Food Policy Research Institute re-ports an 18 per cent improvement in Africa be-tween 1990 and 2011, compared with 25 per cent in South-east Asia and 39 per cent in North Africa (African Union Commission, 2013). Poverty expos-es communitiexpos-es to the harsh effects of natural dis-asters, due to low resilience, inadequate coping capacity and the destruction of livelihoods.
Inadequate and poor infrastructure: The state of rural infrastructure is so poor that road density in Africa is 2.5 times less than that Latin America and 6 times less than in Asia. The average transport cost per kilometre for the distance between Douala and N’Djamena (Cameroon-Chad) is almost three times that of the same distance in the United States of America and twice that in Western Europe. These high costs apply equally to power, water, telephone, internet and other essential ser-vices. These undermine intra-African trade, pro-ductivity and competitiveness. Poor infrastructure makes it difficult to access affected communities during disasters, increases the costs of providing relief and also increases the costs of procuring goods from local markets.
Environmental degradation: Africa’s vulnerability to natural disasters is aggravated by environmental factors. The African Union Strategic Plan 2014-2017 provides extensive discussion of environ-mental issues in Africa, as reflected below.
About 70 per cent of Africa’s land is in an arid or semi-arid environment, with severe degradation of natural resources undermining land produc-tivity and exacerbating the vulnerabilities of eco-systems and livelihoods. Africa is also one of the most vulnerable regions to the impact of climate change and climate variability, but with little ca-pacity to adapt. It is estimated that close to 200 million people in Africa experience water stress and drought is experienced by every generation in 13 per cent of the population. Some regions experiencing water stress, such as the Sahel and
the Horn of Africa region, have been victims of recurrent and persistent drought and famine. In 2012 alone, up to 17 African countries suffered protracted food crises resulting from recurrent natural disasters and/or conflict, several years of food crises, the breakdown of livelihoods and low institutional capacity. Apart from water stress, cli-mate change impacts in Africa are forecast to in-clude widespread flooding and migrations.
Environmental risks contribute to about 28 per cent of Africa’s disease burden. Some of these risks stem from Africa’s poor waste disposal ca-pacities and limited access to safe drinking water.
For example, at present, only 60 per cent for the population of sub-Saharan Africa have access to safe drinking water. Steady deterioration in state of the environment poses significant threats to at-mospheric and fresh water, land and coastal ma-rine environments, forests, woodlands and biodi-versity. About 330 million of people in Africa have no access to safe drinking water, almost a third of the total number worldwide. Furthermore, it is es-timated that water scarcity will increase to 65 per cent by 2025, up by almost 20 per cent since the year 2000. Pollution levels have also grown signifi-cantly because of the quest for industrialization to broaden Africa’s manufacturing base (African Union Commission, 2013).
Persistent organic pollutants form part of grow-ing chemical stockpiles, many of which consist of obsolete pesticides and therefore increase the risks of pesticide poisoning in Africa. Adding to this environmental burden is the burgeoning e-waste stream, caused mainly by the phenom-enal growth of the information and communica-tion technology sector, characterized in particular by the increased use of mobile telephones and computers. Dumping of chemical wastes has also generated acute environmental hazards. In West Africa, the dumping of highly toxic chemicals in 2006 led to 17 deaths and over 30,000 people ren-dered acutely ill.
Africa’s vulnerability to climate change is ag-gravated by the dependence of the majority of its population on environmental and natural re-sources. When weather conditions change, the adverse impact on livelihoods is felt immediately and directly. Lack of economic diversification and absence of insurance systems makes it difficult for communities to cushion themselves against the effects of climate change. African populations also lack robust coping mechanisms and safety nets to deal with the impact of extreme weather events.
Marine pollution is also a challenge. Six island states and 33 countries of mainland Africa share coastlines. Marine pollution has been a serious hazard, of which 80 per cent stems from land-based activities involving flows of untreated sew-age, agricultural run-off, and chemical wastes.
With regard to land, Africa has experienced se-vere forms of land degradation in recent years. It is estimated that in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Lesotho and Mali, 60 per cent of the population live in de-graded land. The consequences for agricultural production have been drastic. In fact, agricultural losses have ranged between 2-40 per cent, the worst globally (African Union Commission, May 2013)
Efforts to promote sustainable management prac-tices have grown over the years, with the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and Sahel Initiative be-ing a key example in this regard.
In 1990, Africa had 31.2 per cent forest cover, but by 2010, this had fallen to 28.1 per cent (African Union Commission, May 2013). The decline in forest cover threatens rural livelihoods and bio-diversity, and is associated with overexploitation and conversion of forests to other uses driven by population growth, economic development and the drive to fulfil the basic needs of populations.
Africa’s small island developing States (SIDS) are particularly vulnerable to climate change and face unique constraints in terms of environmental resource management for sustainable develop-ment. SIDS are vulnerable to sea level rise and nat-ural and environmental disasters such as cyclone, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis, face challenges in the safe disposal of solid and liquid waste due to lack of space, shortages of fresh water and inad-equate land resources, and are heavily dependent on energy imports, to mention a few. Thus, to en-sure their survival, it is imperative that the tackling of environmental challenges through integration of environmental considerations into national decision-making processes becomes a priority for such States.
Urbanization and poor urban development: Urbanization is another source of vulnerability in Africa. Africa is the world’s most rapidly urbanizing continent at 3.9 per cent per annum (Pelling and Wismer, 2009). UN-Habitat projects that Africa will have more people living in urban than rural areas by 2025 (UN-Habitat, 2010). Although only a small proportion of the population live in ‘mega-cities’
such as Cairo and Lagos, the growing urban pop-ulation in Africa has already begun to reshape the geography of disaster risk and the scope for reduc-ing that risk. Most African cities are characterized by a high proportion of the population living in poor quality conditions, informal housing and set-tlements often on hazardous sites (for example, at risk from floods, landslides, earthquakes, fires, etc.) and a large number of people working in the informal economy. Risk levels in urban areas are much increased by the lack of infrastructure and services in many residential areas and the ineffec-tiveness of local governments in taking the meas-ures that can reduce risks (Marrakesh, December 2009). In Africa, cities therefore both present op-portunities for development and challenges for risk accumulation.
With increasing efforts to strengthen governance, decentralization and local governance are being introduced to bring governments closer to the people and promote citizens’ participation and good local governance. Provincial, district and municipal governments are increasingly at the forefront of service delivery. However, the growth of Africa’s population has outpaced local authority capacities to deliver those services. Many of these entities have low capacity and have not devel-oped a strong culture of service delivery. If decen-tralization is to be effective, capacity needs to be built, fiscal decentralization pursued and strong management teams and partnerships for service delivery with private entities established (African Union Commission, 2013).
Lack of consideration of disaster risk reduction in infrastruc-ture planning and development: Infrastrucinfrastruc-ture in the region is prone to high disaster impacts because of inadequate or no attention to disaster risk re-duction in the planning and development of in-frastructure. Heavy investment in infrastructure such as roads, bridges and railways could mean heavy losses as well as reconstruction costs result-ing from the effects of disasters such as floods and earthquakes. Without adequate considera-tion and investment in disaster risk reducconsidera-tion or risk proofing as part of the Africa’s planned heavy investment in infrastructure through PIDA and rel-evant national programmes, the disaster risks will increase.
In summary, the African continent faces multiple sources of vulnerability. A fast growing economy with large investments planned in social and economic infrastructure provides opportunities to address the scourge of poverty as the main driver of vulnerability. However, the inclusion of rapid urbanization in this development could also increase the amount and accumulation of risk if disaster risk reduction is not integrated and prior-itized as part of the development agenda.