Feature
Environment

By Frazer Potani, Lilongwe, Malawi

Since time immemorial during every rainy season between October and March 59-year-old Gracia Alimenda and her family in Traditional Authority (T/A) Mbenje in Nsanje District, southern Malawi sharing boundary with Mozambique abandoned their home for fear of being swept away by floods.

Nsanje and Chikhwawa districts in Southern Region of the country are flood prone areas due to their geographical location near the Shire River also Malawi’s longest river.

For decades, communities close to this river also known as Lower Shire region in Malawi have lost crops, property and families been displaced due to flooding.

But the situation changed for Alimenda and her family and others in Lower Shire following the various Disaster Risk Reduction Initiatives (DRRIs) that were implemented in the two districts with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with funding from the Irish Government and participation of the communities including women.

“Every year during rainy season we had to leave our home to seek shelter up land far from here,” explained Alimenda disclosing that the verandah of her own house was even swept away by floods.

“….. and during this time we could not grow crops hence hunger was the order of the day. The crops that we grew would also be washed away by rain,” she said.

To rescue residents in Lower Shire from floods some of the initiatives included the construction of dykes along the Lalanje River, a tributary of the Shire River, construction of dams, river banks, just but to mention a few.

The constructions were coordinated by Goal-Malawi; a UNDP funded local Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) which was working with local communities on the DRRIs.

Since UNDP and its partners started implementing the DRRIs then according to Alimenda things changed.

“For over the past two years, we have not experienced worse effects of the flooding as compared to previous years. In fact for the first time in our history, we never relocated during the last rainy season. This to us, is a great achievement. We are now able to grow crops,” she said.

Even T/A Mbenje disclosed that due to flooding every rainy season his headquarters had to shift from the original place, which was situated about 10 Km from the Lalanje River.

“My ancestors used to be here, but because of flooding my headquarters were shifted down near the M1 road,” said the chief.

Lalanje Primary School just about 13 Km from Lalanje River was also abandoned due to frequent devastating floods during rainy season to the extent that all pupils were transferred.

But according to Mbenje there were then plans to re -open the school because the situation had improved.

The flooding in Lower Shire districts of Nsanje and Chikhwawa has prior to every rainy season prompted government to ask all people near the Shire River through among other means of communication, state controlled Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) to relocate to upper areas.

A majority of people however, have often refused citing fear of losing their identity and ancestral land, among other reasons.

The DRRIs aim at reducing the vulnerability of households through mainstreaming and strengthening the co-ordination of flood preparedness and mitigation in Chikhwawa and Nsanje districts as well as nationally.

Before Goal Malawi came in to support the construction of dykes, the communities themselves, having realized the threat caused by floods had initially formed Area and Village Protection Committees (AVPCs) which mobilized manpower to remove the silt from the river.

Their work however, was not as effective since they were using traditional equipment such as hoes. Another challenge was that people lacked motivation since it was voluntary work.

Goal Malawi, with UNDP support therefore came in with technical expertise and offered cash for work. A tractor was even deployed, dredging the silt with ease.

“The construction of dykes along the Lalanje River was done by the communities themselves,” said Goal Malawi Assistant Country Director, Pettri Siikanen then.

At the time of gathering information about this feature about 420 households from Chikhwawa and Nsanje districts were already smiling from mitigating disasters through their involvement in the cash for work exercise.

But in Malawi, like in other countries in southern Africa region if more smiles are to be realized from mitigating climate change disasters in communities more women like Alimenda should be deliberately targeted with adaptation measures.

It is a fact that women will be severely affected by disasters including negative impacts of climate change because they are involved in sourcing energy (firewood) for cooking and lighting, water for consumption and household use including food production (as they make over 70 percent of farmers) and availability of these vital resources depends on environmental sustainability.

A Gender and Climate Change Adaptation study in southern Africa region by Wendy Annecke with the South Africa’s research wing, Indigo, Development & Change reveals that women in the region will shoulder more climate change burden than men because men migrate while women remain at home.

“Their ability to migrate in search of economic opportunities makes it easier for men to deal with crisis, and may result in benefits for the family as a whole. However, male migration often increases women’s workload, as they are left behind to manage the household in addition to usual tasks. It can also increase women’s exposure to risks such as gender based violence and HIV infection,” said Annecke.

She therefore, appealed to policy makers at all levels in the region to incorporate gender in all climate change adaptations strategies.

“When we talk about the gender element in climate change and adaptation we are referring to the different ways in which men and women contribute to climate change, the different impact that climate change has on men and women, the different ways that men and women respond to and are able to cope with climate change, and the differences in how they are able to shift from short term coping mechanisms to resilience,” said Annecke.

The researcher emphasized that policies and practices should be careful not to consolidate or extend inequalities between men and women if the fight against climate change is to be won.

“Women are not just victims but active agents of change and possess unique knowledge and skills that should be acknowledged and tapped into to develop resilience,” said Annecke.

Journalists Association Against AIDS (journAids) Executive Director Christopher Bauti said Malawi being prone to disasters to climate change such as droughts, floods and storms in 2006 took a positive step by developing a National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) on climate change with support from the Environmental Affairs Department, the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

“This plan of action is well placed because it’s specifically for the Malawian scenario,” said Bauti however adding, “But it has been questioned by various stakeholders for failing to clearly link issues of gender and climate change.”

He therefore, explained that the plan needs to incorporate gender and Climate Change if Malawi is to contain the impact of Climate Change related disasters.

“Climate change has in fact already caused loss of livelihoods in various sectors of Malawi’s economy including the economic back bone, Agriculture to the extent that it even poses threat to government’s vision to achieve Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015,”said Bauti.

He added: “Rainfall patterns have changed significantly in Malawi and other countries in the developing world. Climate change is now one single stumbling block posing a big threat to human development and it’s severely affecting more women than men.”

And recognizing that women do face a lot painful experiences at the hands of disasters hence are unsung heroines as they do even have many experiences of dealing with such disasters, Chikowa Primary School in Salima in Malawi on Saturday October 13 hosted the commemoration of the International Day for Disaster Reduction (IDDR).

During the commemoration Malawi observed all the aspects that can be done to prevent or reduce the damage caused by natural hazards including earthquakes, floods, droughts,mudslides as well as storms.

Malawi Government, through the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) Iincluding other stakeholders organized such a gathering to bang heads and exhaust all mechanisms that can specifically protect communities while involving women and girls.

The stakeholders among others, included the Centre for Environmental Policy and Advocacy (Cepa),the British charitable organization,Oxfam,Save the Children, Concern Universal, World Vision International,Coopi,Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM), ActionAid and UNDP.

Of particular attention at the Chikowa Primary School gathering were communities from Nsanje, Chikhwawa and Salima all often hit by two extremes of dry spells and floods which render residents as destitudes requiring emergency aid.

This year alone according to DoDMA, a total of 6, 157 families lost their property, over 1, 000 hectares of crop fields were also ruined while 343 households were destroyed when tropical cyclone Funso from the Mozambican Channel southern Malawi earlier this year.

It was not surprising therefore, that young learners from Chikonje and Namiyala Primary School in Nsanje were also present at the Chikowa gathering displaying on how they pay extra caution to the role played by women and girls to protect their beloved ones from harm on a daily basis. And included on the displays were brooms, baskets and fish traps.

“These items ara a source of livelihood when disasters occurr in our community,” said 15-year-old Standard 8 Chikonje Primary School pupil Margret Wiseman while pointing at the items.

She further explained how pupils lost their educational materials due to disasters at her school in Nsanje to the extent that Malawi’s Minister resonsible for Gender, Children and Social Welfare Anita Kalinde was touched.

Taking her turn, Enelles Zex from Group Village Headman Maganga in Traditional Authority (T/A) Maganga in Salima also narrated a touching story in which she emphasized that women are unsung, silent heroines during disasters.

“Women are often the ones in-charge of safety both in their households and within their communities. Whether it’s preparing food, sure that food or water is available and safe before consumption, arranging the house so that dangerous items are out of reach or secured or evacuating their families in advance of a powerful storm it’s women who deal with these tasks,” she explained.

Zex added that women are in the forefront in dealing with disasters because they make critical decisions on a daily basis aiming at reducing disaster risks.

“In fact although some of these activities are often overlooked if closely examined, women and girls prove themselves to be real-life action heroines around the year,” she explained.

Zex also said that women are even the first respondents to disasters and render first aid to victims including making decisions to call for help during disasters where there is a need to do so.

“Women are also teachers because they often share their knowledge and experiences with friends, neighbours, family members and colleages in the communties,” she said adding that no matter what risk they face, women are experts at building resilience within their communities.

“They[women] act well in advance of an event and always think about long-term survival needs of their families. They save money and other resources for the unforeseen circumstances, whether propmpted by unpredictable floods or droughts in their communities,” said Zex adding,“In fact women even forget themselves by instead, putting the welfare of others including their families first.”

Failing to hide her emotions that she was deeply touched by Wiseman and other pupils experiences under disasters, Kalinde promised that she will present the pupils’ plight to President Joyce Banda upon her return from the European Summit in Brussels, Belgium.

The Minister even pledged that she would try her best to enable the pupils to meet Banda to narrate their experiences themselves to the President.

“Disasters are an enemy of development and one of the stumbling blocks to government’s efforst to fight against poverty. During the 2011/2012 period alone a total of 22, 000 households were affected by disasters in 26 of this country’s 28 districts. Some even lost their lives,” said Kalinde disclosing that Malawi Government had to spent over K105 million to rehabilitate the affected families.

“So if we are to develop as a country we need to reduce the damage caused by disasters,” said the Minister.

Meanwhile, the UNDP says about 10,000 people in Comoros, Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique died of floods related disasters in over the past 20 years.

“During the past 20 years, around 42 million people have been affected and almost 10,000 have lost lives in these four countries due to natural disasters,” says the UN agency.

It adds that the mentioned states face hazards and due to their geographical and economic position those hazards cause a relatively high mortality risk.

Therefore, appreciating the negative impact disasters bring on societies including on women and girls a Disaster Preparedness European Commission for Humanitarian Office (Dipecho) partners meeting took place in Lilongwe.

The meeting was held to enhance knowledge on management in disaster preparedness and risk reduction in South East Africa and South West Indian Ocean Region and drew participants from Comoros, Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique.

The UNDP Deputy Resident Representative responsible for programmes in Malawi Ram Shankar however, said each of the affected countries has past and present initiatives to improve their disaster risk preparedness.

“But the poor economic situation makes things more difficult. Poverty makes people more vulnerable to natural hazards and weakens the capacity of national disaster management institutions to tackle the problems,” he said then.

Shankar added that therefore, additional support to collect and use information and tools and revise policies and practices was urgently required to improve the situation in order to save lives and property from disasters.

He further explained then that some environmental degradation activities by people in the four countries representated at the Lilongwe meeting including Malawi were also contributing to climate change.

“In return the activities are breeding disasters such as floods and dr”ughts," said Shankar then.

Late president Bingu wa Mutharika admitted that although major culprits of Green House Gases (GHGs) depleting the Ozone Layer in the atmoshere and fueling climate change including disasters such as floods and droughts on the planet are rich developed countries the poor especially women in rural areas in countries like Malawi are the ones to suffer most from its consequences.

“The most vulnerable groups to climate change related disasters are the poor farmers, rural communities, especially women, children, female-headed households, orphans and the elderly and those affected and infected by HIV and AIDS,” he said then.

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