The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Regional Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis (RVAA) Programme's Steering Committee approved the RVAA Programme 2019/2020 work plan and budget, highlighting the need for prompt vulnerability assessments. This decision comes on the heels of revelatory satellite rainfall analysis presented by Tamuka Magadzire, Climate Hazards Center member and southern Africa field scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey component of FEWS NET. The SADC Member States are asked to produce their vulnerability assessments by the end of June to allow time-efficient advisory of the developing regional food insecurity dilemma. Magadzire’s analysis indicates that October 2018 to January 2019 rainfall may land among the lowest since 1981 in parts of southern Angola, western Botswana, northern Namibia, western and central South Africa, Lesotho, western Zambia, and western Zimbabwe. Below-average rainfall was also recorded in western Madagascar, southern Mozambique, and eastern Tanzania. The prompt production of national vulnerability assessments will allow for accurate regional assessments for budgeting with regard to susceptibility based on climate change and variability.

 

The fast action taken after Magadzire’s disclosure of satellite rainfall analysis demonstrates the CHC’s capacity to provide critical information to agencies for potentially life-saving decision making. As described in the news release, such actionable information allows susceptible regions to meet the ever-expanding threat posed by climate change in the region, which, while unpredictable in exact nature, can be combated through advance warning and subsequent humanitarian efforts. The SADC’s plan captures the primary function of the Climate Hazards Center team, which develops data sets and novel climate analyses combined with geographic and humanitarian data to predict which areas will be most likely to endure drought or other food-limiting climatic events, much like the low crop production anticipated in the aforementioned regions of southern Africa. These efforts further highlight a critical component of the CHC—its coordination with field scientists to quickly communicate new scientific developments and news of potential climate-related hazards, affording entities like the SADC the ability to prepare for potentially devastating food shortages.

 

For full coverage, please read “SADC Member States urged to fast-track 2019 assessments to inform response to poor seasonal performance”:

 

 

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