The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has called for urgent humanitarian aid to nine million community citizens displaced by conflicts and climate change disasters.
Dr Mohammed Ibrahim, Head of ECOWAS Humanitarian Affairs Division, made the plea at a mid-term consultation meeting of the regional committee for disaster management in West Africa (GECEAO), in Abuja on Tuesday.
The event, which aims to promote better coordination and harmonisation of disaster management efforts in West Africa, drew participants from across the sub-region and beyond.
According to Mr Ibrahim, the goal of GECEAO is to develop and implement a unified strategy that builds community resilience to natural and man-made disasters.
“In recent times, humanitarian actors have raised the alarm for the escalating humanitarian needs of nearly nine million people in West Africa displaced due to increasing violence, insecurity and extreme weather events.
“People have become displaced multiple times, exacerbating their hardships.
“The increasing interest of ECOWAS in disaster risk management has mainly been driven by efforts to fulfill its peace and security mandates, including the management of the humanitarian outcomes of conflicts.
“The ability of member states to respond effectively to disasters depends on their internal response capabilities, both civil and non-civilian, and the ability to rapidly deploy such response mechanisms to emergencies before external assistance arrives,” he said.
Mr Ibrahim noted that the magnitude of vulnerability and exposure to hazards and losses from disasters in West Africa and the Sahel is expected to increase over the next decade.
He said that countries were currently vulnerable to floods, land degradation, water scarcity, and coastal erosion, which had increased in occurrence and severity due to the adverse effects of climate change.
According to the ECOWAS humanitarian affairs boss, conflict remains a primary driver of displacement but climate change has significantly impacted migration decisions across the subregion recently.
“The overlap of conflict and climate disasters underscores the urgent need for comprehensive and coordinated responses to break the cycle of climate change and armed conflict.
“It also underscores the need to increase humanitarian access and funding that supports resilience and adaptation to climate change,” Mr Ibrahim said.
Mrs Zubaida Umar, Director-General, Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), in a remark, said that Nigeria was already working to enhance disaster risk management to reduce shocks and enhance population resilience.
According to the NEMA DG, Nigeria stands to benefit from the initiative which aims to provide guidance in addressing the cumulative destructive impacts from disaster risks.
She said that the ECOWAS sub-region was confronted with diverse disasters which required collective efforts with enhanced coordination to address them.
“It is also compelling to tailor emergency response that will guarantee resilience building and sustainable development because none of the phases of the disaster management cycle exists on its own without an overlapping loop.
“With this disaster scenario, the regional recovery roadmap, the regional resilience strategy, the roster of experts, among others, will have to be deployed for significant progress to be recorded in the management of disaster risk in West Africa in line with ECOWAS goal,” she said.
The Director-General, Ghana’s National Disaster Management (NADMO), Nana Prempeh, represented by Frank Nansam-Aggrey, said that Ghana was currently tackling disaster risks in a coherent and uncompromising manner.
He urged ECOWAS member states and stakeholders working to achieve disaster risk reduction to focus more on information sharing to understand disaster risks and its governance toward ensuring coordination across in-country institutions.
According to him, member states can facilitate ongoing local response efforts and provide the necessary inputs to enhance the implementation of disaster risk reduction activities going forward.
He said that historical disaster events like the COVID-19 pandemic have shown that there is no place for a business-as-usual approach to efforts aimed at reducing disaster risks and vulnerabilities.
“The reason is that disaster resilience as part of response to extreme weather events requires the cooperation, contribution and interventions of all state and non-state actors at global, regional, national and community levels.
“This is why member states need to use forums like this to coordinate in-country and external resources to reduce disaster risks and ensure the safety of our people.
“Discussions such as this will enable citizens and policy makers to properly shape policies and resource allocation to meet disaster management needs,” he said.
(NAN)
