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rapid water removal from their own areas. They benefit from
their own actions in improving and maintaining drainage
channels.
Local authorities are best placed to cope with flooding from
small streams whose catchment areas lie almost entirely within
the built-up area. They administer the regulations and bylaws
concerned with land use planning and should be involved in
local disaster management. However, most African local
authorities lack the human resources and financial power to
carry out such responsibilities effectively.
Where major rivers flood towns and cities, urban flood
protection must be seen in the context of the entire river basin,
which may cross political boundaries. Where a river basin lies
within a single nation state, integrated river basin management
principles should be applied by an agency cutting across
ministries concerned with both rural and urban interests to
ensure that activities in upstream areas do not worsen the flood
situation for towns and cities downstream.
In the Mozambique floods of 1996-1997, the trigger was
heavy rains in the Shire river basin. If the Shire and Zambezi
rivers were managed as one basin system, it would have been
possible to alleviate flooding in the Zambezi delta by manipu-
lating Zambezi river flow, using the flood control capacity of
Lakes Kariba and Kabora Bassa.
5
Cities faced with coastal flooding from the sea, or by a combi-
nation of high tides and high river flows from inland, have to
integrate both river basin and coastal zone management, ensur-
ing that the natural wetlands can continue to function as flood
storage areas as far as possible.
The reality: Kampala, Maputo and Accra
In Ghana, relatively little has been undertaken by local govern-
ment to combat urban flooding. Local authorities had not done
any work on the drains and were not doing any cleaning and
maintenance. The city’s big drains were “choked with weeds
and filth, while developers, possibly factory owners, have built
structures and walls over some of the drains,” the Ghana News
Agency reported.
In Uganda, despite noble ideals in the national disaster
management strategy, the ActionAid research team found that
the translation of the disaster management policy into prac-
tice is far from being realised. Local council leaders are failing
to enforce regulations that govern building houses and sanita-
tion. No district disaster management committee exists in
Kampala district, and floods are not seen as a key issue afflict-
ing slum dwellers.
Following the war and severe flooding in Mozambique, the
Government established a new organization, the National
Institute of Disaster Management, with the aim of ensuring
effective emergency coordination and establishing a new
perspective, based on prevention. With this new organisation
the annual contingency plans were institutionalized and are
now part of the state general budget.
A policy of disaster management was also approved by the
Mozambique Government in 1999 and, with the consolidation
of the second national poverty reduction strategy, a new master
plan for prevention and mitigation of natural disasters was
approved in March 2006, with a focus on reducing the vulner-
ability of those communities most exposed to natural disasters.
The master plan is part of the strategy for poverty reduction for
the period 2005-2009, and also addresses the issues at a national
level, but does not give special attention to urban areas.
The National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) for
the least developed countries aims to prepare urgent projects
on adaptation by the sectors of society considered most vulner-
able to the effects of climate change. The process of developing
the NAPA for Senegal, Kenya and Mozambique involved a
cross-section of consultations with many stakeholders in the
public and private sectors. This included non-governmental
organisations and vulnerable communities. While the prepa-
ration of these plans showed that the respective governments
recognised the losses caused by climate change, especially
drought, floods and landslides, the NAPAs do not emphasise,
or focus on the way flooding affects the urban poor.
International action
The Hyogo Framework for Action promotes disaster risk
reduction strategies that are integrated with climate change
adaptation.
6
The framework foresees dialogue, coordination
and information exchange between disaster managers and
development sectors. But this will be slow in reaching the local
governments and communities that need to work on alleviat-
ing urban flooding affecting poor communities. ActionAid’s
surveys found that, at present, local governments know little
about the framework. Many however would be happy to coop-
erate in the types of partnership the framework envisages in
order to improve service delivery.
Local initiatives to reduce vulnerability and increase commu-
nity participation may be facilitated by training, capacity building
and resource transfers. This is where international action of the
type suggested in the Kyoto protocol is appropriate.
There are serious limits as to what international actions
regarding adaptation can achieve. Such actions need to be
developed in ways that support the adaptive capacity and
resilience of vulnerable communities. There is a clear challenge
to international organizations to get their assistance operating
effectively at the appropriate level.
Urgent tasks
The solutions to the severe flooding of poor urban communi-
ties in Africa are relatively simple. Many people understand
what needs to be done. Communities can do much for them-
selves, however, the tasks are best tackled through partnerships
with national and international support. All parties concerned
need to collaborate in:
• Making sure the growing human challenge of urban flood-
ing is addressed in all national and international
development policies, planning and actions by govern-
ments, UN systems, IFIs and NGOs
• Investing in proper and safe infrastructure, such as
drainage, as locally appropriate
• Ensuring that poor people participate in all decision-
making processes equally with experts in flood reduction
policies
• Taking all possible measures to ensure that poor people’s
rights to adequate and disaster-safe housing are realized
and their tenure is secured
• Making sure that critical services such as health, water
and sanitation are disaster prepared, which means they
are able to provide adequate services during floods
• Holistic thinking in aid programmes to incorporate the
effects of flooding
• Implementing the Hyogo Framework for Action at all
levels of urban planning and service delivery.
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