Mitigating natural disasters: Why a sector specific law is long overdue

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OPINION

By Grace Eron Nanyonjo

The world is still shocked by the sight of over 200 lives lost, 72 missing and over 40,000 households displaced due to the flash floods that have ravaged several parts of Kenya, with the situation not being any better in Tanzania. Further afield in Brazil, more than 88,000 people were displaced and 75 people are dead due to recent floods from heavy rains.

Historically, Uganda has faced time-defining natural disasters that have shaped the national political, regulatory and policy discourse. Seasonal disasters include the Bududa landslides on the slopes of Mt. Elgon, the bursting of the banks of River Nyamwamba in Kasese district and the recent flash floods in various parts of Kampala, Teso sub-region, and along the River Kafu on the Kampala[1]Gulu highway and the River Katonga on the Kampala-Masaka highway.

Following the formulation and adoption of the National Policy for Disaster Preparedness and Management in 2011, over the years, there has been mounting pressure for an overarching law that specifically caters to monitoring, mitigating and managing natural disasters as well as the rehabilitation of affected persons due to Uganda’s disaster-prone status.

Over the past decades, 200,000 Ugandans have been affected by disasters each year. With an urbanisation rate of 5.4%, the increasing population in urban areas is causing population pressure on existing infrastructure and the scarce land available. The World Bank predicts that in Uganda, by 2030, 19.9 million people will be living in urban areas, and by 2040, the number will have risen to 31.5 million; approximately 65% of Uganda’s current population.

This has caused pressure on the urban infrastructure and increased the vulnerability of poorer and less-resilient communities.

The enactment of an overarching law on disaster management will streamline the establishment of early detection and monitoring measures backed by research, science and evidence. While the National Meteorological Authority, in conjunction with the Ministry of Water and Environment, has taken nascent steps by sharing pertinent weather forecast information and disseminating information to citizens to adapt to prevailing and oncoming heavy rainy seasons or extremely dry seasons, the establishment of comprehensive regulatory structures for early detection of natural calamities would enhance comprehensive studies and research to facilitate efficient and effective forecasting of future natural disasters to prevent their occurrence in advance or to effectively manage them if they occur.

Additionally, the accumulated research information would boost the effectiveness of the physical planning function among planning authorities in Uganda by ensuring that the grant of development permission for projects and infrastructure is subject to comprehensive studies and assurance that it shall not amplify natural disasters like flash floods in the future owing to the projects’ location, utility and structure, and ensure that mandatory natural disaster management mechanisms are put in place in anticipation of any future happening of a natural calamity.

The challenge of slow-onset and extreme weather events has shaped international discussions due to the loss and damage arising from the after-effects of such events. Globally, loss and damage arising from natural disasters may arguably be the defining factor accelerating the adverse impacts of climate change today.

The detection, management and prevention of slow-onset and extreme weather events is the crux of disaster risk management as envisaged in Article 8 of the Paris Agreement and the National Policy for Disaster Management.

Operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund at COP 28 last year in Dubai was a step forward towards enhancing management of the adverse effects of loss and damage that plague developing countries like Uganda. Efficient management of loss and damage arising from such natural disasters through access to international financing from the fund would be enhanced in the presence of a robust disaster management legal regime unique to Uganda’s circumstances.

Furthermore, in 2022, Uganda, alongside other countries from the EAC, IGAD and other states in the Horn of Africa, endorsed the Kampala Ministerial Declaration on Migration, Environment and Climate Change, which buttresses a co-operative approach towards tackling unplanned migration and enhancing partnerships and financing to respond to the climate mobility crisis.

Building on this momentum towards the adequate management of the refugee crisis amplified by the occurrence of natural disasters in Uganda, a disaster management and preparedness law would serve the purpose of streamlining the discussion on climate migration under established legal and regulatory structures that can leverage regional co-operation to enhance its operation.

Presence of a disaster-management-specific law is a herculean step towards enhancing accountability and efficiency of structures, processes, regulatory agencies and persons responsible for providing access to humanitarian relief and resources to climate refugees. The demarcation of obligations, powers and functions would enhance the effective implementation of refugee welfare enhancement programmes.

With the unpredictable weather patterns accelerated by climate change, as a disaster-prone country, our disaster management strategy will prove to be our greatest asset or liability in shaping the standard of living and development of Ugandans in the years to come.

A disaster management law will enhance the efficiency of the physical planning function, especially for urban areas. It will be a step forward towards the implementation of the National Policy for Disaster Management, the Paris Agreement and our National Climate Change Act.

As a country, let us not always wait for Mother Earth to remind us of its horrors. Let us heed its clarion call. Gently whispering to our ears. It is long overdue!

The writer is a lawyer passionate about national and international policy on environmental sustainability and climate change policy