Integrated drought system needed for Cuvelai
An integrated transnational system for drought information is required for the transboundary Cuvelai-Basin in Namibia and Angola.
This integrated system must incorporate both natural hazard data and the social vulnerability domain.
According to research by the Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE) it is only through this integrated perspective that governmental bodies will be able to design suitable relief and adaptation measures against drought risks.
This is one of the key findings contained in the ISOE policy brief titled 'Integrated responses to drought risks in Namibia and Angola', which describes the requirements for an integrated, transnational risk assessment.
According to the document scientific instruments that measure the extent of drought risks are becoming increasingly important, since they enable effective countermeasures at an early stage.
“Using Namibia and Angola as examples, researchers of ISOE have now developed an instrument that covers not only conventional environmental parameters, but also includes the social aspects of droughts,” the report says.
The document says that only a comprehensive strategy will serve to achieve the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). A comprehensive strategy includes the development of appropriate measures for adaptation to and mitigation of droughts.
“For this, it is important to know not only the ecological, but also the social consequences of droughts. It is only through this holistic approach that the actual extent of drought risks become apparent and thus the vulnerability of humans and nature to environmental events.”
The report points out that medium- and long-term strategies are needed to combat hunger, water scarcity and migration as a consequence of droughts. These strategies combine very different technical as well as institutional measures.
“As the example of the Cuvelai catchment area in the border region between Namibia and Angola shows, environmental events do not stop at national borders. So, this risk assessment also needs a transnational approach.”
According to the report both Angola and Namibia experienced severe drought events in the early 1990s and 2000s as well as a perennial drought from 2013 to 2016, where the food security of some 450 000 people in Namibia alone (20% of Namibia's population) was considered to be insecure.
The population of both countries, particularly in the transnational Cuvelai basin at the border between the Cunene Province in Angola and the northern regions of Namibia, suffer tremendously as most people live in a subsistence economy that is closely connected to the hydrological conditions.
“With the bad rainy season in 2018/19, this region will experience the next episode of drought in the coming months.”
The report adds that exceptional droughts are likely to occur more often in the near future as climate change will trigger more extreme hydro-meteorological events. As a consequence, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emphasises that droughts will become stronger and more frequent, which challenges the growing population of the Cuvelai basin to sustain water and food security in the long-term.
“The Angolan and Namibian population in the Cuvelai basin closely interact across the national border. Likewise water does not care about national borders and thus has to be managed in a joint and integrated way by all members of both societies.”
The document said water-use efficiencies and local water buffers must be enhanced, in particular on the Angolan side of the border.
“The targeted implementation and further development of multi-resources-mix technologies (e.g. rainwater harvesting and water reuse) can reduce the population's drought vulnerability.”
It further said that larger scale infrastructural developments should go hand in hand with flexible decentralised solutions to enhance water and food security.
“Local community solidarity is an important institutional backbone for the population to cope with drought and to adapt to future changes. In particular, rural development efforts are required that go beyond technological interventions and support community-building and collective actions in both water management and agricultural production, to decouple livelihoods from local rainfall.”
According to the report, environment and society are subject to continuous change in the Cuvelai basin and southern Africa in general.
It said that continuous monitoring of key drought risk parameters from both the natural hazard as well as the societal dimension are critical for successful drought mitigation and adaptation.
“A bundle of promising key interventions to reduce the population's sensitivity and enhance its coping capacities in the case of drought events needs to be considered.
“These interventions lie in the fields of water, food, infrastructure, community and education.”
ELLANIE SMIT
This integrated system must incorporate both natural hazard data and the social vulnerability domain.
According to research by the Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE) it is only through this integrated perspective that governmental bodies will be able to design suitable relief and adaptation measures against drought risks.
This is one of the key findings contained in the ISOE policy brief titled 'Integrated responses to drought risks in Namibia and Angola', which describes the requirements for an integrated, transnational risk assessment.
According to the document scientific instruments that measure the extent of drought risks are becoming increasingly important, since they enable effective countermeasures at an early stage.
“Using Namibia and Angola as examples, researchers of ISOE have now developed an instrument that covers not only conventional environmental parameters, but also includes the social aspects of droughts,” the report says.
The document says that only a comprehensive strategy will serve to achieve the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). A comprehensive strategy includes the development of appropriate measures for adaptation to and mitigation of droughts.
“For this, it is important to know not only the ecological, but also the social consequences of droughts. It is only through this holistic approach that the actual extent of drought risks become apparent and thus the vulnerability of humans and nature to environmental events.”
The report points out that medium- and long-term strategies are needed to combat hunger, water scarcity and migration as a consequence of droughts. These strategies combine very different technical as well as institutional measures.
“As the example of the Cuvelai catchment area in the border region between Namibia and Angola shows, environmental events do not stop at national borders. So, this risk assessment also needs a transnational approach.”
According to the report both Angola and Namibia experienced severe drought events in the early 1990s and 2000s as well as a perennial drought from 2013 to 2016, where the food security of some 450 000 people in Namibia alone (20% of Namibia's population) was considered to be insecure.
The population of both countries, particularly in the transnational Cuvelai basin at the border between the Cunene Province in Angola and the northern regions of Namibia, suffer tremendously as most people live in a subsistence economy that is closely connected to the hydrological conditions.
“With the bad rainy season in 2018/19, this region will experience the next episode of drought in the coming months.”
The report adds that exceptional droughts are likely to occur more often in the near future as climate change will trigger more extreme hydro-meteorological events. As a consequence, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emphasises that droughts will become stronger and more frequent, which challenges the growing population of the Cuvelai basin to sustain water and food security in the long-term.
“The Angolan and Namibian population in the Cuvelai basin closely interact across the national border. Likewise water does not care about national borders and thus has to be managed in a joint and integrated way by all members of both societies.”
The document said water-use efficiencies and local water buffers must be enhanced, in particular on the Angolan side of the border.
“The targeted implementation and further development of multi-resources-mix technologies (e.g. rainwater harvesting and water reuse) can reduce the population's drought vulnerability.”
It further said that larger scale infrastructural developments should go hand in hand with flexible decentralised solutions to enhance water and food security.
“Local community solidarity is an important institutional backbone for the population to cope with drought and to adapt to future changes. In particular, rural development efforts are required that go beyond technological interventions and support community-building and collective actions in both water management and agricultural production, to decouple livelihoods from local rainfall.”
According to the report, environment and society are subject to continuous change in the Cuvelai basin and southern Africa in general.
It said that continuous monitoring of key drought risk parameters from both the natural hazard as well as the societal dimension are critical for successful drought mitigation and adaptation.
“A bundle of promising key interventions to reduce the population's sensitivity and enhance its coping capacities in the case of drought events needs to be considered.
“These interventions lie in the fields of water, food, infrastructure, community and education.”
ELLANIE SMIT
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