As the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction is marked, communities should embrace international cooperation for developing countries to reduce their disaster risk and losses.
The day is being celebrated amid heightened global supply chain turbulences occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The pandemic and its variants have wedged the economies of the developing countries, amplifying their susceptibility to every form of risk that any person has had to contend with.
The climate change challenge—which is fuelled by greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide gas—has resulted in prolonged episodes of drought and intensified floods.
It has funned multiplicity of insects that hurt crop yields and kill livestock.
The ultimate effect is millions of households who are driven to utter deprivation and perennial conflicts over natural resources such as water or pasture for livestock.
The direct and indirect effects of climate change immeasurably hurt the gross domestic product of struggling economies.
While there is no silver bullet to every form of risk manifestation, it cannot be gainsaid that developing countries, unlike developed countries, tend to suffer quite disproportionately.
Poor segments of populations suffer more if they ever stand a chance to survive a disaster. While some disasters are natural, some are induced.
Human beings have been seen as the driving force that triggers natural disasters.
Although cynics consider climate-change-related disasters natural, the bludgeoning body of science insists that people are responsible for the continued cumulation of GHGs in the atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide gas is particularly noxious as it is miscible in fluids such as water and oil.
While greener technologies such as wind and solar can provide energy alternatives and halt climate change risks, developing countries are often lethargic about adopting these alternatives.
They also suffer negligibly, if the quantum of their emissions is anything to go by. It is this kind of negligence that makes global cooperation and coordination imperatives contain otherwise escapable risks.
The cooperation needed spans beyond resources and technology. It transcends jurisdictions and regions.
Kenya has in the past suffered losses to various forms of disasters from boats capsizing, landslides and forest fires, inconveniencing most people.
At Ol-Moran in Laikipia, bandits have taken on a different trajectory by continuing with attacks in areas that were hitherto peaceful, in clear defiance of the rule of law.
Drought has been another menace with the government allocating Sh2 billion to contain the scourge.
At least two million Kenyans living in Kenya’s arid and semi-arid lands face acute food and water insecurity. Poverty makes it fertile for risks to grow and multiply.
Deliberate cooperation to support developing countries to better manage risks is a formidable step in creating a resilient society.
As adopted under the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, interventions needed must be people-focused and action-oriented.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
