COMESA aiding climate smart agriculture

Climate change has affected almost everyone
VIOLET MENGO – Lusaka
LILLIAN Malambo, 36, is an HIV- positive woman in Zambia’s Southern Province. She tested positive to the virus that causes AIDS during her last pregnancy in 2010.
Ms Malambo’s HIV positive status meant that she had to make changes to her lifestyle and this included improving her nutrition. But she could not manage to do so due to lack of funds. She as such ventured into agriculture with the intention of growing enough crops for consumption and the surplus for sale.
“I did venture into farming but my yields were usually low. Nature was mostly to blame. Most times, the rains were erratic and sometimes we experienced drought. And this had an impact on my health as well as providing for my family’s dietary needs,” Ms Malambo said.
Fortunately for her, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), through the Golden Valley Agricultural Trust (GART), has a programme specifically targeted at farmers like Ms Malambo. The programme trains farmers in climate smart agriculture.
Climate smart agriculture, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, is the integration of three dimensions of sustainable development.
These are: sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and incomes, adapting and building resilience to climate change as well as reducing or removing greenhouse gas emissions.
It is an approach to developing the technical, policy and investment conditions aimed at achieving sustainable agricultural development for enhanced food security.
“I was privileged to be part of the team of farmers that received training from GART in 2013 in Monze on climate smart agriculture. The training changed my life and how I do my farming now,” Ms Malambo said.
She said the training was the turning point in her life and that of the family in terms of food security and provision of school requirements for her children.
Climate smart agriculture, Ms Malambo said, does not affect the environment because it is dependent on digging the basins once the land is cleared.
“There is no burning of residue, all we do is slash, prepare the basin and plant while ensuring soil fertility,” she said.
Today, Ms Malambo produces maize for consumption and sale. She also rears chickens. This has helped enhance her family’s nutritional status.
“With the support of GART, today I can support my children in school and also ensure that they have nutritious food,” she said.
Her aim is to buy cows and venture into other income- generating activities.
“I am so happy that the [COMESA] programme has empowered and also given me reason to still continue living,” she said.
Ms Malambo is one of the many people who have benefited from climate smart agriculture, the programme that has been helping vulnerable communities in Zambia engage in productive agricultural ventures.
With the support of COMESA, rural communities are slowly fighting poverty in their households and becoming food secure.
Climate change has affected almost everyone and has had a huge negative impact on farming communities in Africa in general and East and Southern Africa in particular where over 80 percent of people depend on rain-fed agriculture for their livelihood.
These climate change challenges have adversely impacted on many rural communities, especially children and women like Ms Malambo.
It is against this backgro   und that COMESA embarked on the implementation of the climate change adaptation initiative and identified climate smart agriculture as one of the major areas of focus in addressing the effects of climate change.
COMESA Secretary General Sindiso Ngwenya says due to global warming caused by the depletion of the ozone layer, the world is experiencing dramatic weather changes resulting in unexpected floods and drought.
“As a result of the climatic changes being experienced, climate smart agriculture has been proved to be one of the best ways of withstanding the changes,” Mr Ngwenya said.
He said when farmers practise climate smart agriculture, the yield is four to five times more than the produce from traditional farming practices.
The innovation, which is being supported by the Norwegian government, European Union and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), has in the past few years implemented aggressive adaptation and mitigation programmes in many countries in East and Southern Africa.
To ensure that adaptation programmes benefits reach the most vulnerable at the local level, COMESA has gone into partnerships with relevant government ministries, regional, local NGOs and international organisations.
In Zambia, Namibia, Lesotho and Botswana, COMESA works with organisations with facilities on the ground such as GART to promote climate smart agriculture.
GART director Steven Muliokela says climate change scenarios are real as has been seen in the changes in frequency, onset of the rain and its quantity.
He says GART is working in four countries that are implementing climate change adaptation and mitigation programmes.
“We need to find a way of managing climatic changes because despite these changes, people’s livelihoods have not changed. Adaptation is an immediate activity allowing people to cope with the changes as a result of climate change,” Dr Mulyokela says.
Under the GART programme, COMESA has offered support to rural communities such as those in Monze where Ms Malambo lives.
The support to communities in the COMESA region is helping eradicate extreme poverty and hunger in line with the Millennium Development Goals.
If nothing is done to mitigate the effects of climate change, famine and disease can be at their worst.
And this is the reason why COMESA has realised the need to have climate smart agriculture practices imparted in rural communities which are the most vulnerable.

Zambia: Precious Water Flows in Kabushi Township

Violet Mengo
January 27, 2012
Despite the challenges associated with efforts to improve sanitation in Zambia, functioning communal toilets and taps are in sight in Ndola’s Kabushi Township following the completion of a sanitation project that will enhance hygiene for the residents. The project has brought dignity to the residents whose lives were once at risk of disease. The people can now boast of safe clean water and toilets as VIOLET MENGO reports.

IRENE Makoni, a mother of five, lost two of her children to diarrhoea. She attributes the death of her children to poor sanitation in Kabushi Township.

She admits that doctors had advised her to observe hygiene when her children were admitted to the hospital. Their illness was characterized by vomiting, fever and diarrhoea.
Another Kabushi resident, Joseph Nyirongo, has also been a victim of diarrhoea as a result of poor sanitation.

Makoni and Nyirongo are among thousands of Kabushi residents who had been living in poor sanitary conditions. Their communal flash toilets were dilapidated and this forced many family members to wake up at the crack of dawn to fetch water for cleaning their toilets.

In several communities in Africa, in order to get water, many women and children walk for hours a day, lining up to collect water from the few public taps and wells that aren't dry.

Often, residents had to pay K5,000 for a 20-litre container of water, which made it hard for them to meet other basic needs. Most of the residents could not afford even a small amount to pay for water.
“We used to spend eight hours a day fetching water for the communal toilets we were using before they were closed,” Joseph Nyirongo says.

The communal toilets in Kabushi were closed by health authorities because they posed health hazards. The toilets designed decades ago, had collapsed forcing many residents to answer to the call of nature in nearby bushes.
To some, the only option was to dig pit-latrines which eventually also became full and posed a health hazard.
Dry human waste could be seen at the doorsteps of the communal toilets in the city’s high density township.

However, the situation is no longer the same. The National Water and Sanitation Council (NWASCO) through its basket fund-Devolution Trust Fund (DTF)- provided finances for the construction of new toilets in the township.

The project, which is now complete, will help in reducing the disease burden in the area.
Approximately K4 billion Kwacha was provided for the construction of the toilets and provision of water supply.

“The lack of sanitation for Kabushi residents was not just uncomfortable – it was dangerous. Without designated toilets and bathing areas, the risk of disease grew as existing water sources and the surrounding environment became contaminated,” Gonga says.

The long awaited sanitation project will be commissioned soon. It will allow people access to water supply and clean and safe toilets.

The sanitation project involved the construction of sewerage network, domestic reactors for waste water and treatment and the construction of household toilets.

DTF is Government basket fund that provides money to water utilities across the country to improve their service delivery.

Apart from the sanitation project, people in the community have been educated on hygiene and disease prevention, waste management and general cleanliness.

“We have seen our health and cleanliness improve,” says Emmanuel Bwalya. “We are sure that with the opening of the toilets, we will no longer experience diseases as was the case before.”

The Government has long recognized the importance of this basic human right and its direct impact on the quality of life. Through DTF, Government has invested huge amounts of money to better sanitation conditions in Zambia.

The lack of sanitation has a serious impact on health and social development, especially for children.
“By improving access to safe water and sanitation, the project will improve the lives of thousands and help reduce poverty levels and medical expenses,” Kafubu Water and Sewerage Company managing director Ian Banda says.

 
Banda says the project will also save women and children from spending much time fetching water.
The completion of the sanitation project in Ndola is testimony of Government’s efforts to protect people from diseases.
Globally, sanitation still remains a challenge. Of the 2.5 billion people around the globe without access to sanitation, 75 percent live in Asia and Africa.
Health experts say the absence of functioning toilets provides a springboard for the spread of diseases.
The United Nations Development Programme says a staggering two million tonnes of human waste is deposited in water courses each day across the world and half the population of the developing world is exposed to polluted water that causes disease.
It is no secret that investments in sanitation have, for decades, lagged behind investments in water supply.

Mtendere Residents now Getting Water from Kiosks Instead of Wells

By VIOLET MENGO

WITH smile on his face, Austin Goma, 40, opens a tap at one of the newly constructed water kiosks in Mtendere East. The flow of water is a clear demonstration of the residents’ farewell to the challenges of water supply experienced for many years.
Goma’s joy and that of his community comes as a sense of fulfilment that they will no longer spend hours looking for water, nor will they have to depend on shallow wells anymore.
The provision of water to Mtendere East means reduction in water and sanitation related illnesses for our community, especially children, it is a dream come true,” he says.
Goma, a father of four, says his family has been among the most affected in the community as they did not have access to water supply. They would buy the commodity and also use shallow well water which was common practice in the area.
He says with the water kiosks, one is able to pay K100 per 20-litre container unlike in the past where one would pay K200 per container from individuals. Although he says it is manageable, some members of the community still feel it is expensive.
Apart from saving money, the community which is involved in informal type of work will have more time to be productive and also school-going children will no longer miss classes because they have to help their parents draw water.
For Mtendere East, having sustainable water supply is, in itself, a success story as the area has for many years not known what it means to have access to safe drinking water. For those that dug shallow wells, diarrheal diseases were common while those with individual connections overpriced their neighbours.
Water and sanitation related diseases used to be high coupled with high poverty levels. Among the common diseases that were prone to the area included dysentery, cholera and typhoid.
Mtendere East is one of the poorest settlements in Lusaka with a population of 78,000 which adds up to the 65 percent of people living in Lusaka’s peri-urban areas. 56 percent do not have access to acceptable quality water supply.

Zambia, three others discuss climate fund

By VIOLET MENGO
FOUR countries, including Zambia, are meeting in Lusaka to prepare for the handling of climate financial resources from developed countries through the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

GCF is a new finance mechanism established by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The meeting, which is an inaugural African climate finance readiness leadership and shared programme, is aimed at preparing African countries bid and access new funds at international level.
Associate Professor at the University of Cape Town Richard Calland said in an interview that the purpose of the meeting is to bring together senior public service officials and give them an opportunity to share knowledge and learn from one another.
“This is a strategic leadership meeting with the support of a faculty of experts based at Cape Town University which runs an organisation called the African Climate Finance Hub,” Prof Calland said.
He said a small group of experts has been convened to work with public service leaders in the four countries and to help them think through the best ways of preparing themselves to access the funds.
Professor Calland said when countries invest in roads and other new infrastructure, they should be climate smart to prevent that investment from going to waste.
Prof Calland said it is hoped that GCF will become a major financer for adaption projects that will allow countries to adapt their economies to be more climate resilient and to ensure that their economic development pathways are not disturbed by the threat that is posed by climate change.
And the Zambia Interim Inter-Ministerial Climate Change Secretariat Co-ordinator David Kaluba said Zambia has already provided leadership to the climate finance readiness programme being implemented by Germany.
Mr Kaluba said in the initial development, the country played a very active role in shaping the development of the programmme.

By VIOLET MENGO
ESTHER Muwamba of Lusaka’s Misisi Township has just lost her housing structure due to floods caused by heavy rains. The house collapsed after a heavy downpour destroying all her household goods.
Ms Muwamba, whose husband died in 2009, has been living with her three children in Misisi Township since 2000.
Little did she know that she would one day be left in the cold as this was the only property left by her late husband.
“I had gone to the market when the rains started and I did not have the chance to rush home because the rains were quite heavy. I lost all my property in the process, including the house due to heavy rains,” Ms Muwamba said.
Ms Muwamba and her three children now live with a relative in Chawama and her children have unfortunately dropped out of school.
Ms Muwamba’s situation is one among many in Zambia which receive minimal or no publicity because the media often prefer reporting on political issues than such human interest stories.
It is against this backdrop that the need for a cadre of journalists to highlight humanitarian and disaster issues has prompted United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to train journalists on reporting disasters.
The workshop was an interaction between journalists and the United Nations family as a joint capacity building measure within the framework of communication for development.
It helped build capacity of local radio stations in particular and other media houses in the field of communication for development and in providing humanitarian assistance, information relating to disasters and emergency situations.
Speaking during a media training workshop in Lusaka recently, UNESCO Resident Coordinator Simon Cammelbeeck noted that the media can play an important role in informing the public on humanitarian, disaster situations and disseminating warnings.
Mr Cammelbeeck said people need information as much as they need water, food, medicine or shelter as it can help save lives and resources.
“At times information is the only form of disaster preparedness the most vulnerable can afford. Sensible information in the face of natural hazards has demonstrated, cost effective means of saving lives, reducing property damage and increasing public understanding,” Mr Cammelbeeck said.
He said the role of the media can and should be an integral part of each of the phases related to humanitarian and natural disaster situations.
Mr Cammelbeeck urged the media to take up an equally responsible role during the humanitarian response phase by providing accurate information on disaster situations and aid relief.
“Timely, accurate and sensitive communications can educate, warn, inform and empower people to take practical steps to protect themselves from natural calamities,” Mr Cammelbeeck pointed out.
The UN is working with government to promote community based disaster risk reduction solutions, aimed at increasing community resilience to natural disasters.
And Zambia National Commission for UNESCO chief programme officer Brenda Muntemba said using various information communication technology (ICT) tools in journalism can ensure facilitation of knowledge and information management in newsrooms.
Ms Mutemba said Zambia has benefited from capacity building programmes as evidenced by the training of journalists from five local community radio stations.
She said the programme will later be extended to more journalists from other radio stations.
“I wish to echo the advice that journalists ought to be careful and always verify their sources of information. We should always remember the main aim for communication is to complement developmental efforts in many areas,” Ms Mutemba said.
The objectives of the training workshop included strengthening the capacity of local radio stations and other media to enable them effectively report on humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and emergency interventions.
The training also aimed at enhancing understanding of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) as a blue print of the role and contribution of the UN towards Zambia’s National Sixth Development Programme.
It also helped increase media access to UN news sources and advocacy on humanitarian and development issues
Every year, humanitarian disasters take a devastating toll on people affecting their well-being and future.
The 2013 World Disasters Report, belabours that there is urgent need to improve and innovate ways to make disaster preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery more effective and accountable.
The report examines the potential of technology to improve humanitarian operations and increase resilience to disasters.
It also focuses on risks and unintended consequences of ‘technology influx’ and provides recommendations on how to maximise opportunities, while minimising risks.
Published annually since 1993, the World Disaster’s Report brings together the latest trends, facts and analysis of contemporary catastrophes and their effect on vulnerable populations worldwide including people in Ms Muwamba’s predicament.

Katete parents forcing children into cattle herding?

Some parts of Zambia have a relatively high prevalence rate of boys herding cattle at the expense of their education as evidenced in Katete in Eastern Province.  In collaboration with its partners, PANOS Institute Southern Africa is working towards enhancing child protection by strengthening existing child protection systems. Our staffer, VIOLET MENGO, reports.

TINENENJI Tembo of Malata village in Katete has a secret. It is that she has lent out her 12-year-old son, Gift, to her area councillor to herd cattle for three years.

Ms Tembo has found herself in this poignant scenario due to the high levels of poverty in her home. She has taken this path in a quest to live a better life after acquiring cattle from the councillor at the end of her son’s three-year contract.

She revealed her secret at a recent PANOS Institute Southern Africa stakeholders’ meeting in Katete. The forum was on strengthening child protection systems.

“My husband and I agreed that our son Gift works for three years to earn the family cattle that we have been longing for. I have now realised that it was wrong for us to have done that,” Ms Tembo said.

She said the lack of alternative survival means made the family sacrifice Gift’s education in the hope that once they acquire cattle, they would be able to send him and his siblings back to school.

“Iam willing to withdraw him [Gift] from his labour but what happens to the two years he has served so far?” she wonders. Ms Tembo said her son started herding cattle in 2011 but withdrew after a year. He was later persuaded to go back and renew the contract, which will now expire in 2015.

He is supposed to be in Grade Four but as things stand, Gift is not in school and may never have an opportunity to be in class again.

He is fourth in a family of eight. Gift’s case is one of the many in Katete, where parents have resorted to sacrificing their own children as labourers to wealthy families in bid to own cattle, which is believed to be a symbol of wealth.

Katete district commissioner Peter Kaisa is aware of this development and the infringement on children’s rights to education by the parents in their bid to lift themselves from the shackles of poverty.

Mr Kaisa said there is need for urgent action in addressing traditions, norms and cultures that adversely affect the development of children.

“Some traditions are very difficult to change but with concerted efforts from chiefs and the community, the injurious traditions can be removed. Sending children to herd cattle is considered a normal practice, but this becomes injurious to a child when it affects his or her education,” Mr Kaisa said.

He called on schools, the Church and parents to work with traditional leaders to curb child exploitation and ensure that children are protected and attain the highest level of education.

Mr Kaisa said child protection should not be the responsibility of Government alone, but all leaders and community members should feel duty-bound.

According to the Police Victim Support Unit (VSU) in Katete, a number of parents have suffered the consequences of sending their children to herd cattle with the hope of earning a living but never get the desired benefits.

Sergeant Stella Muleya said child abuse and early marriages are some of the common cases which the unit has been dealing with for some time now.

Ms Muleya said although VSU also receives a number of cases of defilement, there has been a sharp increase in the number of children herding cattle but never getting the benefit of their service.

“Some of the causes of child suffering include lack of food and the need to live a better life, so parents encourage their children to work and be able to support the family in some way,” Ms Muleya said.

She said because of the families’ insatiable desire for improved living conditions, they do not care about the kind of endeavours their children engage in as long as they are able to bring food on the table.

“There is need for collaboration in addressing these challenges from all stakeholders,” Ms Muleya said.

Area member of Parliament Peter Phiri says he is aware of the challenges facing the people in Mkaika constituency and has been engaging various stakeholders in an attempt to address the bottlenecks.

“We are planning a dialogue meeting with relevant stakeholders in the district to find solutions to the problem of child exploitation.

This is being worsened by the increase in the number of early marriages and children being forced to work as labourers at tender ages,” Mr Phiri said.

It is against this backdrop that PANOS Institute Southern Africa has embarked on a project called ‘Strengthening Child Protection Systems’ in Katete.

Regional programme manager for media development and ICTs Elias Banda says the institute will collaborate with different stakeholders to enhance child protection through the necessary protection systems.

Child protection, according to PANOS, is a set of usually Government-run services designed to protect children and young people.

PANOS is partnering with the Zambia Police Service through the VSU and the department of social welfare in the Ministry of Community Development, Mother and Child Health.

“Communities will identify problems affecting the development of children. They will also come up with their own ways of addressing the identified challenges and we will provide the needed support,” Mr Banda said.

PANOS has already supported the efforts of the local leadership in the district through the listening clubs.

On behalf of Save the Children International in Zambia (PSAf), PANOS has partnered with Mpangwe Radio to use radio as a platform where child protection issues can be discussed.

“We want to use radio to influence change and policy formulation. These interventions are expected to promote community action in reducing child abuse and advancing community-owned protection interventions,” Mr Banda said.

There are five listening clubs in Katete; they are Malata, Keni, Kagord, Kalimeta and Chibolya. These listening clubs give the residents a voice so that they can drive their own development agenda.

“The clubs produce programmes that can help others change in a positive way and share ideas aimed at fostering development,” Mr Banda said.

 

Damages from extreme weather mount as climate warms new report calls for greater investment in managing climate and damage

 

By VIOLET MENGO

As the global climate continues to change, the costs and damages from more extreme weather related to a warming planet are growing. 

While all countries are impacted, developing nations bear the brunt of mounting losses in lives and livelihoods from increasingly severe floods, droughts, and storms.

“Typhoon Haiyan, the most powerful typhoon ever to hit the Philippines, has brought into sharp focus how climate change is intensifying the severity of extreme weather events, which hurts the poor the most,” said Jim Yong Kim,

 World Bank Group President. “While the immediate relief effort must be front and center of our attention today, such tragic events show that the world can no longer afford to put off action to slow greenhouse emissions, and help countries prepare for a world of greater climate and disaster risks.”

More can be done to help vulnerable countries adapt to climate change, as well as prepare for and respond to weather-related disasters, according to a new World Bank report released today on the sidelines of the UN climate talks in Warsaw. Building Resilience: Integrating Climate and Disaster Risk  into Development looks at the gradual or slow-onset effects of climate change like sea-level rise, salinization of freshwater sources and droughts, as well as extreme weather events like floods, heat-waves or cyclones.

Produced before Typhoon Haiyan left its deadly trail of destruction across the Philippines, the report describes the costs of weather disasters the lives and jobs lost as well as in losses and damages to private property and infrastructure, and their particular impact on the poor.

“Over the last 30 years, the world has lost more than 2.5 million people and almost $4 trillion to natural disasters. Economic losses are rising – from $50 billion each year in the 1980s, to just under $200 billion each year in the last decade. .

And about three quarters of those losses are a result of extreme weather”, said Rachel Kyte, World Bank Vice-President for Sustainable Development.

“While you cannot connect any single weather event to climate change, scientists have warned that extreme weather events will increase in intensity if climate change is left unchecked.”

With a focus on lessons from World Bank Group experience, the new Bank report calls for national governments and the international development community to work across disciplines and sectors to build long-term resilience, reduce disaster risk and avoid unmanageable future costs.

The main findings include: Loss and damages from disasters have been rising over the last three decades, from an annual average of around $50bn in the 1980s to just under $200bn each year in the last decade.

According to the reinsurance company, Munich Re, data, total reported losses from disasters are estimated at $3.8 trillion in the period from 1980 to 2012 with 74% due to extreme-weather.

Weather-related economic impacts are especially high in fast-growing, middle-income countries due to increasingly exposed, valuable assets.

The average impact of disasters equaled 1% of GDP over the six years from 2001 to 2006, ten times higher than the average for high-income countries.

The impacts are particularly crippling in smaller and lower-income countries that are least able to cope. Hurricane Tomas, for example, devastated St Lucia in 2010 and wiped out the equivalent of 43% of GDP. In the Horn of Africa, the extended 2008-11 drought, which at its peak left 13.3 million people facing food shortages, caused estimated total losses of US$12.1 billion in Kenya alone

Climate and disaster-resilient development can save lives and livelihoods and protect the poor from climate shocks. Early warning systems have been proven to save countless lives worldwide, and typically yield benefits that are 4-36 times higher than initial cost outlay.

Cyclone Phailin which hit Odisha and Andrah Pradesh in 2013 resulted in 40 deaths after years of disaster risk prevention and preparedness, compared to the 10,000 who perished during a similar event in 1999.

There are big pay-offs despite upfront investment costs. Disaster assessment experience suggests it costs 10-50% more to build safer infrastructure than to replace original structures.  

For large-scale infrastructure it can be substantially higher. For example, following the 2008 floods in Namibia investments were needed to elevate roads and improve drainage in flood prone areas.

This carried a cost 5.5 times the replacement value of damaged structures. Much is known already on how to build resilience, but better cooperation is needed among relevant agencies and disciplines.

The World Bank and other partners have accumulated a wealth of global expertise in resilient development – but it requires better harmonisation of climate and disaster management agendas to prevent fragmentation of local capacity and global  resources.

The World Bank is providing, combining, and leveraging different types of finance to help nations address climate and disaster risks.

Through the Global Facility for Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, and the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience, the World Bank has helped at least 70 countries include climate and disaster risk into their development planning and investments.

In addition, it offers advisory services, tools, online platforms, and country-specific risk assessments to support nations and populations at risk.

“At the World Bank Group, we are putting disaster risk management at the forefront of our agenda,” said Kyte. “Unfortunately we must ramp up and integrate disaster risk and development. We can help governments improve their planning processes, build to disaster resilient standards and establish early warning systems.

The Bank portfolio in this area is rapidly growing with 2 out of every 3 dollars we invest in this area focused on prevention and preparedness rather than just response.”

In the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, the World Bank is working closely with the Government of the Philippines and we stand ready to support the recovery and reconstruction effort in any way we can.

Building Resilience: integrating climate and disaster risk into development was produced by the World Bank and the GFDRR.