The storms preceding the recent KwaZulu-Natal floods were part of a normal weather system known as a cut-off low that is often responsible for excess rain and cold. But experts say the intensity of the deluge was due to climate change — warmer seas charged the atmosphere and dumped the added moisture as heavy rainfall. As climate change brings less predictable, frequent, severe and extreme weather events, SA municipal authorities should prepare with the appropriate risk-management mechanisms.
Three prominent factors in the risk equation will increase disaster losses in SA cities and towns. The first is the direct role of climate change in weather-related hazards. While global efforts and investments in cleaner technologies are picking up speed, they still fallof what is needed to achieve the 1.5°C temperature rise threshold set by the Paris Agreement. This places the world on an intermediary mitigation trajectory.
The objective of the ARC is to assist AU member states in reducing the risk of loss and damage caused by extreme weather events and natural disasters affecting Africa’s populations by providing targeted responses to disasters in a more timely, cost-effective, objective and transparent manner.