Climate Change Impacts: Prevention and Management Challenges for Sahelian Cities.

Dr. M. Badolo, Science Application and Dissemination Institute
27/11/2009
 http://en.cop15.dk/blogs/view+blog?blogi…

Urbanization and vulnerability dynamics to climate change in the Sahel.

Since the 1973 widespread drought, countries in the Sahel have embarked on a constant dynamics of urbanization. An increasing number of Sahelians live in cities, and the cities are growing bigger and bigger. Generally speaking, the growth of Sahelian cities has been taking place under circumstances marked by several challenges, turning such cities into spaces of great vulnerability to climate change impacts, such as floods, heat waves, strong winds or droughts. These challenges include:

Settlements in risk-prone zones;

Inadequate and non-adapted development strategies for the urban space;

Lack of early warning systems in connection with climate change impacts;

Lack of effective response strategies;

Social behaviours due to ignorance or lack of information;

Inappropriate construction modes or materials.

As a result of the above, some climatic phenomena even slightly beyond what can be expected have overwhelming consequences in cities in the Sahel:

Damaged or destroyed economic or social infrastructures and deteriorated access to basic social services;
Lost of endogenous development capacities (decline in municipal tax revenues)
Increased urban poverty;
Urban governance system increasingly oriented towards humanitarian action instead of development planning;
Reduced  urban development policy performance;
Increased or modified social demand.
In light of the disastrous consequences due to the heavy rains this year in many Sahelian cities, climate change which will increase the frequency and intensity of unexpected hydrological and meteorological phenomena constitutes an obvious threat, which could challenge socio-economic achievements and perspectives in such cities.

Intervention options for the reduction of urban space vulnerability to climate change in the Sahel
To reduce Sahelian cities vulnerability to climate change impacts, several intervention options will have to be considered:

Improving early warning systems and strengthening crisis management devices and mechanisms

Putting in place early warning systems and response strategies is an urgent action to be taken to reduce Sahel cities vulnerability to climate change impacts.

Warning systems will be covering a multitude of risks using the abundant communication resources made available in cities, including mobile telephony and community radios. Efforts will be made to promote such systems with the populations, in particular the most vulnerable.

Experience in the Sahel indicates that public schools and buildings usually serve as primary shelters in the events of floods. These infrastructures will have to be restructured to better meet the needs in such situations.

Development of urban places could include permanent areas to be used as reception sites in the event of severe floods. Such sites will help vacate public schools and buildings in a very short time.

Developing urban platforms to reduce disaster risks is a critical element in designing urban warning systems to manage any consequences caused by climate change. Simulation of disaster situations to test warning systems and response plans will have to be carried out on a regular basis.

Informing, sensitizing and educating urban populations
The development in the Sahel of cities that are resilient to climate change impacts will require the participation and contribution of all its urban inhabitants. Therefore, continual information and sensitization activities should be carried out with populations on climate change and its consequences, as well as on the need to adapt to such change.

Attaining the behavioural changes required by climate change in urban areas implies the need to educate people on the prevention and management of climate change impacts with a focus on existing warning systems and response strategies. This should involve stakeholders and entities such as schools, companies, district associations, trade unions, religious leaders and media people.

Aligning the urban legislation to prevention and management policies for climate change impacts:

The existence of an urban legislation in connection with the prevention of climatic risks, as well as a regulation on land occupancy and use and appropriate construction standards are measures that are likely to contribute to the reduction of cities vulnerability to climatic risks. Therefore, an urban area vulnerability mapping will have to be conducted and disseminated.

Developing scenarios for unexpected events for planning purpose:

Management policies and measures for cities’ current vulnerability to climatic risks are essential but inadequate to reduce vulnerability to climate change in the long run. To determine the long-term vulnerability for its integration into the long and medium-term development planning, efforts will have to be made to design scenarios to cope with unexpected phenomena at urban level.

Establishing urban infrastructures that prevent climatic risks or mitigate their impacts:

The point here is to establish the basic infrastructures that will reduce cities’ vulnerability to climatic risks (drainage canals, reservoirs for city water supply, urban transport system that limits pollution and resilient to climate change impacts). Such investments will have to take into consideration the climatic evolution as established by climate change scenarios.

Ultimately, Sahelian cities are facing a governance challenge as a result of climate change. This challenge relates to the emergence of an urban management style integrating climatic risks, as a good governance indicator, into development policies and actions. To take up this challenge, urban political authorities will have to set up:

An institutional framework entitling Municipal Authorities to take the lead of any initiatives pertaining to prevention and  management of climate change impacts in urban area;
Innovating mechanisms for the mobilization of financial resources for policies and measures to prevent and manage climate change impacts;
Required partnerships and frameworks for concerted action for integrated management of climate change impacts.
The impacts of the heavy rains in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) on September 1st 2009 provide an indication of the need for immediate investments in prevention and management policies to address climate change impacts in Sahelian cities. This unexpected occurrence provides researchers, humanitarian stakeholders and political decision-makers with a basis for policy formulation. Rehabilitation actions will have to be marked out, thus turning the city of Ouagadougou into a “learning ground” in the area of adaptation to climate change in Sahelian cities.