The third African Drought Week conference has ended in Windhoek Namibia, with delegates adopting the Strategic Framework for Drought Management and Enhancing Resilience to Drought in Africa as well as accepting the text of the now Windhoek declaration.

The delegates drawn from diverse sectors across the continent appraised initiatives such as the Great Green Wall that has been adopted since 2010 by about 20 African nations including Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia amongst others, to stop desertification.

The conference, which is supported massively by the African Union (AU), discussed setting up relevant teams to operationalize the strategies of the conference declaration as well as meeting the funding needs of the document.

It also praised the impact of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) which has granted about $100 million to nations that have adopted the Great Green Wall especially in aiding Agricultural output.

In his keynote speech, the Namibian President, His Excellency Dr. Hage Geingob, said, "Drought is one of nature?s most devastating phenomena and threatens the very livelihood of our people, both in our immediate and future existence. As you have been doing, it is appropriate that Government leaders and scholars alike assemble to discuss methods of mitigating the effects of drought as well as how the issue of drought relates to and effects our developmental aspirations as highlighted through the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063. The theme for this Conference "enhancing resilience to drought events on the African continent"could not be more appropriate, given the current drought crisis that is afflicting the majority of the Continent. El Nino 2016 continues to wreak havoc across Africa from Lesotho in the South to Ethiopia and Somalia in the east and to the countries of the Sahel in West Africa. Here in Namibia in 2013, we experienced our worst drought for over 30 years, and this year, we have once again had to declare a national drought emergency. According to the latest figures, over 25% of our population is estimated as being food insecure.

This year we have estimated that the Namibian Government needs to raise N$659 million (approximately US$48 million) for our drought relief programme in order to allow the country to continue distributing food to the needy and vulnerable. In Southern Africa alone, an estimated US$3 billion is required to assist countries affected by drought. These are significant sums of money and we need the support and solidarity of the international community in order to ensure that lives are saved and that our critical short term needs are met".

This is certainly a great step towards solving the desertification challenge of African communities and with the AU taking responsibility in this front, the signs are really good.

For more, this is the official website of the event African Drought Conference

Photo by: African Drought Conference