Associate Professor in the Department of Geography, Earth Sciences and Environment at the University of Malawi Dr. Mirriam Joshua says despite the existence of policies in the management of disasters related to climate change, there are gaps which make it difficult for actors to effectively assist affected households.
She described the provisions as not adequate enough as other sectors are yet to consider and incorporate issues of climate change despite it being a crosscutting issue covering many areas such as agriculture, infrastructure and health systems
In terms of policies, there are general ones such as the National climate change policy which looks at how the issues are managed and sectoral polices which integrate climate change management issues, how infrastructure development is managed.
She explained that when there is drought or prolonged dry spells which can make farmers have low yields, irrigation can be used to supplement rain-fed agriculture and used as an adaptive method to overcome the impacts of climate change.
She cited the main health and education policies as some of which are yet to explicitly state how climate change will be managed.
“When we had Tropical Cyclone Idai, Freddy many affected communities they had to find shelter in the school blocks. During that period, it meant students were not attending classes.
“How do we manage that problem because it means performance of the students will also be affected if they spent so many days maybe a month plus without attending classes. That’s a big impact on their education in terms of their attainment levels”.
She noted that poor classroom blocks which are not resilient to climate change will affect learners if authorities don’t consider the high temperatures they’re subjected to making it difficult for them to concentrate in classes.
The Associate Professor is however upbeat that when the policies are revised, they will integrate climate change issues.
Dr. Joshua further observed that the Disaster Risk Management Act has some shortfalls as it doesn’t cover important aspects such as psychosocial support during disasters.
“In Mulanje and the other areas which were hit by Cyclone Freddy, many people lost their families. Yes, they needed to be assisted with food other materials like clothings shelter but one of the critical areas which these needed was that psycho-social support.
“But when you go to the current policy and Act that does not feature, so I’d say that there is nothing to guide actors on how they should manage psycho-social problems that are associated with climate change disasters”.
