Sustainable Development in Africa: Is the Climate Right?

The purpose of this document is to set out the IRI position on managing climate information in the development process in Africa, and to provide a convenient point of reference for all people working on related matters. The main message is that much better management of climate variability in a number of key sectors is essential to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development in Africa. IRI, as an international development organization, is committed to the MDGs and is actively engaging partners in new ways to assist the process

Managing Water under Uncertainty and Risk: The United Nations World Water Development Report 4

This report introduces new aspects of water issues: 1) it reintroduces the 12 challenge area reports that provided the foundation for the first two World Water Development Reports (WWDR); 2) 4 new reports on water quality, groundwater, gender, and desertification, land degradation and drought; 3) in recognition that the global challenges of water can vary considerably across countries and regions, a series of 5 regional reports have been included; 4) a deeper analysis of the main external forces of freshwater resources and possibilities for their future evolution; 5) managing water under uncertainty and risk

Planning and Drought

TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Drought: The Problem.............................................. 1 Water Impacts ............................................................................... 2 Public Health Impacts ......................................................... 4 Environmental Impacts ..................................................... 5 Built Environment Impacts................................................ 6 Secondary Hazards ......................................................... 9 Economic Impacts ................................................................... 10 Drought as a Challenge for Planners .......................................... 13 Chapter 2: Drought: The Knowledge Base ................................................... 15 Spatial and Seasonal Patterns of Drought ................................................................ 16 Drought and Climate Changes .................................................................................. 19 Tracking Drought: Tools and Resources ................................................................... 20 Using the Drought Resources Toolbox...................................................................... 2

Courting Catastrophe? Humanitarian Policy and Practice in a Changing Climate

Humanitarian crises appear dramatic, overwhelming and sudden, with aid required immediately to save lives. Whereas climate change is about changing hazard patterns and crises are in reality rarely unexpected, with academic researchers and humanitarian and development organisations warning about possible risks for months before they take place. While humanitarian organisations deal directly with vulnerable populations, interventions are part of global politics and development pathways that are simultaneously generating climate change, inequities and vulnerability. So what is the level of convergence between humanitarian interventions and efforts to support adaptation to climate change, and what lessons can be drawn from current experience on the prospects for reducing the risk of climate change causing increased burdens on humanitarian interventions in the future? This IDS Bulletin is a call for increasing engagement between humanitarian aid and adaptation interventions to support deliberate transformation of development pathways. Based on studies from the ‘Courting Catastrophe’ project, contributors argue that humanitarian interventions offer opportunities for a common agenda to drive transformational adaptation. Changes in political and financial frameworks are needed to facilitate longer-term actions where demands move from delivering expert advice and solutions to vulnerable populations to taking up multiple vulnerability knowledges and making space for contestation of current development thinking. Yet while the humanitarian system could drive transformative adaptation, it should not bear responsibility alone. In this issue, alternative pathways and practical ways to support local alternatives and critical debates around these are illustrated, to demonstrate where humanitarian actions can most usefully contribute to transformation

Drought in South Africa : lessons lost and/or learnt from 1990 to 2005

Drought and its associated impacts have been causing critical problems for agriculture, vulnerable communities and overall development for many years in South Africa. Impacts of drought such as the effects on a regions’ climatology, increases in food insecurity and food prices and the integration of drought with factors such as the HIV/AIDS epidemic have led government to introduce various policies dealing, in particular, with drought risk. By means of examining government documents, journal articles and media publications the methods government has employed to reduce the impacts of drought are traced. The way government has handled drought in the recent past, such as during 1991/92 and 2003/04, with regard to maize farming and vulnerable populations, is of great importance for learning lessons in drought-risk reduction for the future. Lessons Government has learnt include shifting drought management policy and those lost from recent drought episodes include improving early warning systems and incorporating HIV/AIDS in drought strategies. The research also presents suggestions for alleviating the impacts of drought and for better managing the events. The Government, with at least a twenty year history of drought situations and drought governance, provides an interesting range of experience that can present a useful set of cases that may yield valuable insights into the future