The African Union Commission (AUC) has launched a decisive effort to bridge the hole between scientific analysis and coverage motion, inaugurating the first-ever Symposium of the Africa Science and Technology Advisory Group on Disaster Risk Reduction (Af-STAG DRR) in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.
The four-day assembly, co-organized with the Partners Enhancing Resilience for People Exposed to Risks (Periperi U) consortium, brings collectively scientists, policymakers, and innovators from throughout the continent to reimagine how Africa prepares for, and mitigates, the disasters that threaten its improvement trajectory.
Held below the theme “Strengthening the Role of Science, Technology and Innovation for Evidence-Based Implementation of the Sendai Framework,” the symposium marks a strategic turning level for the continent. It seeks to rework how African governments use know-how and information to anticipate local weather and environmental shocks, slightly than merely reply to them. This shift comes as floods, droughts, cyclones, and wildfires more and more erode livelihoods, displace communities, and reverse improvement good points.
Africa presently faces an estimated $30 billion in annual economic losses due to climate-related disasters. Between 2010 and 2024, greater than 180 million Africans had been immediately affected by such occasions, in keeping with continental assessments. The frequency and depth of local weather shocks have multiplied, with 2024 alone recording over 15 main flood occasions that displaced tens of millions from Mozambique to Sudan.
In this context, the AU’s determination to convene scientists and policymakers below one roof alerts a continental recognition that science and innovation are not optionally available, they’re important devices of resilience.
At the opening ceremony, Zimbabwe’s Deputy Director of Civil Protection, Farai Hokonya, reaffirmed his nation’s dedication to continental cooperation.
“Zimbabwe stands ready to support all African Union initiatives aimed at strengthening disaster risk reduction on the continent,” he stated, highlighting the significance of coordination in an period when disasters hardly ever respect borders.
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From the AU Commission, Harsen Nyambe, Director of Sustainable Environment and Blue Economy, underscored the urgency of scientific motion. “Africa’s vulnerability to disasters is increasing, eroding our developmental gains,” he warned. “This symposium is a pivotal step towards mobilizing our continent’s scientific and technological expertise to create evidence-based solutions that protect our communities and safeguard our future.”
The Af-STAG platform itself represents a brand new structure for continental collaboration. Comprising 15 consultants drawn from all 5 African areas, it’s tasked with producing data-driven insights and translating them into coverage briefs, technical pointers, and early warning methods. The group’s two-year mandate (2023–2025) consists of supporting the implementation of the Africa Regional Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction and aligning with each the Sendai Framework (2015–2030) and the AU’s Agenda 2063.
Among essentially the most urgent points mentioned at Victoria Falls is Africa’s restricted protection of early warning programs. Despite confirmed life-saving advantages, solely about 40 p.c of the continent’s inhabitants presently has entry to dependable multi-hazard early warnings. This signifies that almost 600 million folks stay with out advance alerts for floods, storms, or droughts. Expanding that protection, via geospatial mapping, synthetic intelligence functions, and mobile-based dissemination instruments, has turn into a continental precedence.
However, the discussions additionally prolonged past know-how. Participants harassed the significance of integrating indigenous information programs into formal disaster frameworks. From pastoralist drought prediction practices within the Sahel to coastal group threat mapping in West Africa, conventional information typically fills the data void the place formal programs are absent. The symposium known as for a hybrid mannequin that validates and combines these insights with scientific forecasting and satellite tv for pc information.
Africa’s rising city inhabitants provides one other dimension to the problem. Unplanned urbanisation, significantly in cities like Lagos, Nairobi, and Kinshasa, has intensified publicity to flood risks and infrastructure collapse. Data reveals that city areas now take in almost 60 p.c of Africa’s whole disaster losses, underscoring the necessity for city resilience planning and risk-sensitive land use insurance policies.
To that finish, one of many symposium’s tangible outcomes would be the Af-STAG Roadmap for Disaster Risk Reduction, an motion plan designed to information international locations in institutionalising science-led decision-making. The roadmap will define coverage suggestions, outline precedence analysis areas, and set up collaborative platforms linking universities, nationwide meteorological companies, and civil safety models. It can even kind the premise for useful resource mobilization, inviting funding from the non-public sector and improvement companions to fund utilized analysis and know-how switch.
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In his remarks, Dr. Eltson Eteckji Fonkeng, Chair of Af-STAG, described the assembly as “a turning point for the continent.” He added, “Science and technology are not just tools; they are the foundation of intelligent and proactive disaster risk reduction. Our goal is to build a clear, action-oriented roadmap that will guide Africa in leveraging its intellectual capital to reduce disaster risk and build lasting resilience.”
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