Windhoek
The Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Unit is in the process of developing a strategy to guide the processes for integrating Climate Change Adaption (CCA) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) into national development plans.
National Planning Commission (NPC) spokesperson Fillemon Nangonya said these plans would include medium term expenditure frameworks, sectoral legislative and policy frameworks, strategies and plans of action at national, sectoral, regional council, local authority and community levels.
“With heavy rains being received in the northern regions of the country and a wave of seem-to-be riverine floodwater from southern Angola, government needs to prepare itself accordingly,” Nangonya said. He said among the preparations it is important to train officials in various innovative approaches that would better prepare them to carry out their duties.
He added the NPC through its newly established Directorate of Monitoring and Evaluation (DME) – in line with their technical support function – started with quick-fix capacity building programmes on monitoring and evaluation. He says the DME will be assisted by the DRM unit by developing planning tools to help in planning interventions aimed at reducing and managing disastrous risks, associated with disasters, such as floods.
Furthermore, Nangonya said the country fragile environment is vulnerable to climate change and related hazards. “Climate change will cause many impacts in Namibia and will particularly affect agriculture, human health and well-being, energy, infrastructure, biodiversity and ecosystems.”
He said, while climate variability is not new in Namibia’s history, the incidence and severity of extreme weather events, especially floods and droughts, has increased sharply in recent years and climate projections indicate that this trend will intensify.
He said with an economy strongly dependent on natural resources, such as agriculture, water, fisheries, as well as wildlife and nature-based tourism, predicted impacts can have severe repercussions for economic development and sustainable livelihoods.
According to the director of monitoring and evaluation at the NPC, Roux Sampati, logic model development helps programme designers and decision-makers determine the rationale behind every intervention to be identified in the prevention of disasters, like floods, while at the same time helping in the development of a roadmap that specifies what needs to be done and resources required to achieve the objectives.
Participants from the DRM Unit expressed gratitude for the programmes, saying it is really a constructive approach that will help them, especially, in coming up with measurable outputs and targets. “It was really an informative exercise, as it has given us an indication on how to approach planning,” said Hilma Kaluwa from the planning and operations division in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM).
Kaluwa also urged that the programmes be rolled out to officials at the policy-making level within the OPM to ensure a concerted approach as they embark on the development of a strategy to mainstream CCA and DRR into national and sectoral plans.