Business experience of floods and drought-related water and electricity supply disruption in three cities in sub-Saharan Africa during the 2015/2016 El Niño

Non-technical summary The El Niño event in 2015/2016 was one of the strongest since at least 1950. Through surveys and interviews with key informants, we find businesses in the capital cities of Zambia, Botswana and Kenya experienced major disruption to their activities from El Niño related hydroelectric load shedding, water supply disruption and flooding, respectively. Yet, during the 2015/2016 El Niño, fluctuations in precipitation were not extreme considering the strength of the El Niño event. Results therefore highlight that even fairly moderate precipitation anomalies can contribute to major disruption to economic activity. Addressing the risk of disruption – and supporting the private sector to adapt – is a development priority. Technical summary Drought during the 2015/2016 El Niño amplified disruption to public water supply in Botswana’s capital Gaborone and contributed to unprecedented hydroelectric load shedding across Zambia. In Kenya, moderate precipitation during the El Niño brought localized floods to Nairobi and other areas. Contributing to a sparse literature on firm-level adaptation among micro, small and medium enterprise (MSMEs) in sub-Saharan Africa, through a near-real time assessment we consider MSME experience of this disruption in sectors making substantial contributions to livelihoods and national GDP. Alongside complex and indirect impact pathways that influence total loss and damage, results show varying vulnerability to disruption. Nevertheless, directly after the El Niño event, MSMEs reported water supply disruption, power outages and flooding to be the leading challenge within the business environment in Botswana, Zambia and Kenya respectively. Deeper understanding of vulnerabilities in existing water, energy and urban infrastructure – in the context of increasing urbanisation and a potentially broader range of climate variability – is urgently needed across SSA. This needs to be coupled with public provision of wider enabling conditions – including access to finance – that support private sector adaptation to extreme climate events and associated resource disruption. This paper also identifies clear opportunities to improve climate information services for MSMEs. Social media summary Flooding and water and electricity supply disruption during the 2015/2016 El Niño disrupted business activity in sub-Saharan Africa

THE GEOGRAPHY OF DESPAIR: URBAN ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE THROUGH INCOME-BASED RESIDENTIAL ZONATION, GABORONE CITY, BOTSWANA

Urban inter-race environmental injustice is a well-researched field particularly in the northern hemisphere. However, few studies have addressed intra-race urban environmental injustice especially within a developing country setting. An appreciation of the type and extent of this injustice is needed to help policymakers and city planners curb and mitigate its negative effects at this infancy stage before getting worse with economic development. The goal of this paper is to determine the presence and extent of environmental injustice in Gaborone city. To reach this goal, the paper inventories hazardous facilities across the city and also determines the spatial viability of exposure to hazardous facilities with socioeconomic status across the city. The results agree with work from elsewhere but on inter-race, showing disparities in hazards exposure among different socio-economic groups. The paper discusses policies that city planners could adopt to prevent and also minimize the effects of this injustice

Land reforms that exclude the poor: the case of Botswana

Land reforms in Botswana, unlike those in other southern African countries, were not undertaken with the primary objective of redistributing land, but rather with the three objectives of increasing agricultural productivity, conserving range resources and improving social equity in rural Botswana. While there was modest success with the first two goals, the same cannot be said for the third. As it turned out, the two agricultural land reform policies (the Tribal Land Grazing Policy and the National Policy on Agricultural Development) harmed many poor households living in communal areas. Poor people were excluded by constraints such as high development costs, ownership of only small herds or no cattle at all, and lack of human capital. Complementary programmes in the form of innovative loan products and cash grants are needed to compensate them and so help them participate in the land reform process.

SETTING THE SCENE

Chapter published in The IPBES regional assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services for Africa, pp. 1-76International audienc

SETTING THE SCENE

Chapter published in The IPBES regional assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services for Africa, pp. 1-76International audienc

SETTING THE SCENE

Chapter published in The IPBES regional assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services for Africa, pp. 1-76International audienc

SETTING THE SCENE

Chapter published in The IPBES regional assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services for Africa, pp. 1-76International audienc

Water futures and solutions: Options to enhance water security in sub-Saharan Africa

Water security is one of the greatest health, ecological, environmental, and human rights challenges of our time. Africa sits at the epicenter of this quandary, with the need to build resilience into already over allocated water resources. This chapter focuses on Sub-Saharan Africa and stresses the inter-related physical and social dimensions that underpin water security. The chapter highlights the value of engaging stakeholders through meaningful dialogue towards outcome oriented and adaptable governance strategies