Govts urged to use early warning to avert climate disasters in the Greater Horn of Africa (GHA)

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is now calling on the governments in the Greater Horn of Africa to utilize climate Early Warning information to ensure populations do not suffer adversely from climate induced disasters.

Speaking during the 47th Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Forum in Zanzibar, NDMA Drought Contingency Planning and Response officer, Saiyana Lembara says “early warning systems are in place to systematically harvest data and to trigger appropriate early action should there be an incoming disaster.”

Lembara said Kenya like any other country is prone to climate extremes especially drought and floods that are often very devastating to most of the socio economic systems hence the need for the government to invest in Early warning System.

Lembara says climate scientist can predict the arrival of such disaster hence allowing the country to take early timely actions to be undertaken to reduce or minimize the impacts of weather and climate extremes.

Food price inflation has become a major issue in Kenya. Since 2015, Kenya has experienced shortages of the staple food, maize, and other basic commodities such as sugar with the annual food inflation rate shooting to 18.6% in March, “forcing households to tighten their belts.”

The net effect saw Tanzania, halted maize exports to neighboring countries including Kenya which forced a rise in the prices of food.

In some parts of Tanzania, grain prices doubled between December 2016 and April 2017. According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics Drought slowed down Kenya’s economy in the first quarter of 2017 wit Kenya’s economy expanding by 4.7 per cent, “the slowest growth since the third quarter of 2014.”

The slowdown was occasioned by contraction in Agricultural activities that saw agriculture record the first negative growth of 1.1 percent since 2009 on account of the poor weather experienced since last year.

Lembara says if the government invests in the Early warning information the country will not be losing billions of shillings due to response to disasters such as drought, floods, crop failure among others.

Source : Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) 

               By Brenda Jeptoo Kiprono