The World Bank has said the climate change fight demands a focus on long-neglected structural challenges that are worsening the impact of natural disasters in Africa and other developing countries.
“Some of those structural challenges span from years of environmental degradation,’’ Anna Bjerde, the bank’s Managing Director for Operations told CNBC Africa last week after seeing villages devastated by Cyclone Freddy in Malawi in February and March.
The World Meteorological Organization says the cyclone may have been the longest in history. Over five weeks, it destroyed roads and other vital infrastructure in Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique. Officials estimate about two million people were displaced while more than a thousand died.
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According to the United Nations, changing rainfall patterns and more extreme weather threaten Africans’ food, water and socio economic development and more needs to be done to help the continent cope better.
Bjerde, back in the region for the first time since taking up the operations role last month, says she was enthused by the energy of the Malawian people and the government’s response in helping rebuild communities.
“I saw an incredibly resilient population where a lot of people want to make a change, and a lot of innovation around sustainable solutions like renewable energy, like more climate-smart solutions in agriculture and solutions for the most vulnerable and poor to have access to clean water,” she said.
