A conference of Horn of Africa countries most vulnerable to climate change opened in Kigali yesterday to discuss disaster risk mitigation strategies and contingency plans on the critical climate sensitive sectors of the regional countries-Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
A budget of about Rwf 130 billion has been put in place to support climate change resilience and mitigation efforts which was unveiled yesterday in a two days meeting.
Heavy rains were predicted in August 2015 to cause disasters in Rwanda and the region in general.
The Ministry of Refugees Affairs and Disaster Management (MIDIMAR) said that El Niño related deaths and destroyed properties resulted in the increase of budget reserved for disasters.
The issues discussed during the meet include agriculture, construction, energy supply system, food security, livestock, water resources, health, disaster risk management and others.
“Disasters increased in 2015. A total of 26 people died in the last three months of 2015, many houses and crops were ravaged. Disasters have increased in general,” said Jean Baptiste Nsengiyumva, Director of Risk Reduction and Preparedness Unit.
El Niño effects were mostly realized in agriculture and animal husbandry, health and education in Rwanda where 26 people died, 37 were wounded, 656 houses were destyroyed,60 domestic animals killed and 1381 hectares of crops ravaged.
While Rwanda experienced some drought, over 20.4 million people from the Horn of Africa starved from August 2015 to February 2016.
Diseases like Cholera and malaria also increased.
Zachary Atheru, the representative of ICPAC (IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre) said that Ethiopia and Sudan were mostly affected by El Niño effects while countries near the Equator did not experience heavy rains.
The director of Rwanda Meteorological Agency, John Ntaganda Semafara said that El Niño effects in Rwanda are not as severe as the expected consequences of climate change. He added that various measures have been taken to mitigate such climate change effects.
Experts in disaster prevention say that one US dollar invested in proactive measures of countering disasters saves three US Dollars that would be spent to recover or mend destroyed properties.
Rwanda plans to spend over USD 36 million on climate change resilience, Sudan USD102 m, Burundi USD14m, Uganda USD 9m, Kenya 10m and Sudan prepared USD119,150.
El Niño will be followed by a period of excess hot Sun called La Niña.
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