IGAD urges members to invest in water management

The Minister of State for Disaster Preparedness, Refugees and Management Ms Esther Anyakun has said there is need for the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) member states to increase large-scale resilience investments in water resource management in order to combat drought disasters in the region.

“The dynamics are really changing when it comes to what we have been thinking about in terms of looking at drought. Imagine right now the season we are in. Its El-nino, its even raining in those semi arid areas. The conversation has to start changing in terms of planning, financing and resource mobilisation in how we are handling these issues,” she said.

Ms Anyakun made the remarks at the 9th General Assembly of the IGAD Drought Disaster Resilience and Sustainability Initiative (IDDRSI) Platform in Entebbe on November 24.

 “It has been a 10 year plan so we are trying to take stock of what we have been doing as countries because we all made different commitments and forge a way forward for the next plan to combat challenges that our people face particularly those in the arid and semi arid lands due to the impact of climate change,” she said.

The IGAD Head of Mission to Uganda, Ms Lucy Daxbacher said the region remains one of the most vulnerable to climate change impacts due to prolonged conflicts, high population pressure, and a subsistence economic base.

“During the last four years, our region has been hit by a severe drought not seen in the previous forty years. As a result, our people experienced five consecutive failed cropping seasons, with rangelands turned into dust due to extreme dryness,” she said.

Ms Daxbacher added, “As you are very well aware, 13.2million livestock perished, leading to hunger and displacement of our pastoral communities with increasing resource-based conflicts across border areas. In economic terms, for example, Kenya alone lost close to 1.5 billion from the loss of nearly 3 million livestock.”

Ms Daxbacher who represented the IGAD Executive Director Dr Workneh Gebeyehu said children, women and the elderly face multiple risks of loss of life and permanent health problems due to forced mobility resulting from drought.

“Evidence from the region has also shown a significant human displacement due to drought, mainly in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, with a total displaced population estimated at 2.7 million,” she said.

IGAD member states include Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda.

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