11 Oct 2023

Delegates at the National Disaster Risk Reduction Preparedness Conference have been implored to proactively engage each other to find lasting solutions to issues of concern to Batswana.

The five-day conference, which  attracted various experts from different sectors from government, non-governmental organisations, academia and developmental partners was aimed at discussing  issues related to disasters that continuously affect people’s lives and livelihoods, property and critical infrastructure.

Officiating at the conference on Tuesday, Assistant Minister for State President, Mr Dumezweni Mthimkhulu, said climate change continued to pose a serious threat to developmental gains achieved since the country’s independence.

He called upon participants to strive to develop long lasting solutions to challenges brought about by climate change and climate variability.

He said extreme weather events had been on a sharp increase particularly heat waves and prolonged episodes of drought, noting that all posed health, economic, and social challenges to Batswana.

“We have to face up to the new climate risks by coming up with relevant contingency plans, resources and capacities to manage these hazards.

We need to change the mindset and adopt proactive and robust strategies that seek to save people’s lives and livelihoods from the impact of disasters,” he said.

Mr Mthimkhulu noted that  the country was currently facing a number of wild fire outbreaks indicating that between the months of April and September 2023, the total estimated burnt area stood at 686 906.52 hectares as compared to 641 804 hectares during the same period last year.

The cause of most of these fires were reported to be unknown but suspected to have been caused by human activities such as people who do not handle fires with care whereas natural causes such as lightening also occur sparingly.

Mr Mthimkhulu further noted that the situation had been exacerbated by the high fuel load and dry weather conditions, which contributed to a surge in the number of wild land fires.

Some of the areas that have been severely affected by wild land fires include protected areas such as the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Chobe National Park and Khutse Game Reserve.

He said farm areas mainly in the western Sandveld and Kaka areas, Hukuntsi, Letlhakeng and Gantsi areas had  also been affected  ,noting that the fire outbreaks led to loss of property.

However, Mr Mthimkhulu acknowledged that there were ongoing concerted efforts by key stakeholders to suppress the fires.

“As preparedness for the fire season, capacity-building activities were done to improve and sustain both community and stakeholders to prepare for, respond to, and recover from wild land fires as well as deployment of fire fighters to fire prone areas,” he noted.

To enhance coordination in preparedness, response and recovery to disasters, government, through the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO), initiated a number of strategic level initiatives.

The gathering was informed that the National Policy on Disaster Management of 1996 was currently under review and that the draft policy had been presented to Cabinet for consideration and would be submitted to the National Assembly for debate in the 2024 July Session. Botswana recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement with SADC to establish the SADC Humanitarian and Emergency Operations Centre (SHOC).

The establishment of the hub will oversee the coordination of regional disaster risk response, early warning and recovery initiatives by SADC. “Our National Emergency

Operation Centre (NEOC) and the SHOC will strengthen coordination and response to disasters at national and regional levels,” said Mr Mthimkhulu.

The director of Air Navigation Services from the Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana (CAAB), Mr Silas Silas, hoped the mindset  change concept would help sectors to do things differently to manage disasters noting that at CAAB, disasters included aircraft crashes, some getting lost.

He revealed that they had developed Standard Response Procedures, which guided them on what to do during emergency occurrences. Ends