African Regional Implementation Workshop on Hazards and Disasters Dakar, Senegal September, 2012

Overview of Implementation Activities of ICSU ROA’s Hazards and Disasters Science Plan By Dr. R.L.K.Glover Programme Specialist: Biological Sciences ICSU ROA

INTRODUCTION (1)  Sub-Saharan Africa prone to many types of natural and human-induced hazards and disasters, most commonly:  Geological  Hydro-meteorological

Earthquake

Volcano

Tsunami

Drought

Floods in Northern Ghana

Cyclone Bingiza in Madagascar

Huge Wildfire in South Africa

Hailstorm in Klerksdorp, Johannesburg, South Africa

Dust storm often occurs in South Africa

Storm at sea J’burg’s Thunder/Lightning Storms famous in SA Summer

Windstorm

A landslide in Kenya

Woman cries for her 4 children lost in landslide, Bududa, Uganda

Landslide in Taiwan

Soil Erosion in Kenya

Coastal Erosion in Gran Canarias Island

Erosion in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

INTRODUCTION (2)  These events may occur naturally; but some triggered or exacerbated by human activity

INTRODUCTION (3)  ICSU ROA Science Plan on Hazards and Disasters  prepared and published in September 2007  to revitalize efforts for addressing impact of these hazards and disasters on African communities  through a framework of research projects for better understanding of the problem  and developing strategies to mitigate them and improve resilience of vulnerable communities

IMPLEMENTATION ACTIVITIES (1)  Task teams of scientists from Africa and African scientists in the diaspora established to develop research projects in the two common hazard and disaster groupings- Geo- and Hydro-meteorological  Project HD01 on Geo-hazards aims at:  assessing and mitigating earthquake hazards,  characterising Africa’s active volcanoes for appropriate hazard monitoring  Project HD02 on Hydro-meteorological hazards and disasters in Africa: vulnerability and resilience is focused on:  research on drought events and floods, and  the resilience of communities to these events

IMPLEMENTATION ACTIVITIES (2)  Proposals sent by ICSU ROA to a number of funders but none received funding  Scoping workshop in March, 2012  merged and transformed task teams of two groups into a consolidated research consortium to: o integrate research on disaster risk o recast research proposals -- to focus on key challenges in Science Plan, e.g. adequately address vulnerability, resilience, mitigation and disaster management issues

IMPLEMENTATION ACTIVITIES (3) -- achieve multi-/transdisciplinarity by involving social scientists and engineers -- ensure participation by civil society, public sector, national members and scientific unions, municipalities, private sector and NGOs o refine scope, with realistic budgets, depending on funders o identify and submit proposals to potential funders (UNDERWAY???)  Book on Hazards and Disasters in sub-Saharan Africa being developed for publication with sponsorship from the African Institute of South Africa (AISA)

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