Mitigation of, response to and recovery from El Nino Impacts - Is Africa learning from past disasters?

The impact of the 2015/16 El Niño, amplified by climate change, was far-reaching and led to extensive drought in eastern and southern Africa exposing more than 60 million people to food insecurity and a disruption of markets, water and sanitation, education, health, infrastructure, peace and security, and social cohesion. There are lessons learned on what needs to be done for Africa to strengthen its ability to adapt to climate change induced disasters. As there is convincing scientific evidence that such extreme and intense climate events are likely to repeat with serious negative impacts in most regions of Africa, there is compelling need for the continent to use lessons from past to prevent similar disasters and strengthen its response and recovery efforts. This interactive side-event will explore: (i) appropriate preventive and risk reduction measures, (ii) how to mainstream humanitarian responses to long-term resilience and sustainable development, and (iii) enhance knowledge on effective mitigation, response and recovery policies and best practices.