New Flood Busting Project for Africa’s LimpopoRiver Unveiled

 

(Reissued as received.)

MAPUTO/NAIROBI, 27 September (UNEP) -- A multimillion-dollar project to reduce the impacts of flooding on the lower LimpopoRiver was announced today.

The project aims to improve the way land along the river is managed, boost the ability of governments, local authorities and communities to respond to extreme flooding events and establish early-warning systems.

The initiative, funded by the United Nations Environment Programme wing of the Global Environment Facility (UNEP/GEF), is in response to the devastating loss of life and livelihoods which recently occurred in the region.

Few will forget the television images of villages and homes washed away by the worst floods in living memory.  Millions were moved by the plight of Sofia Cherindza of Mozambique who in 2000 gave birth to her daughter Rosita, high in a tree, as the floodwaters swirled around.

A wide range of factors aggravated the flooding which the new project, being executed by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), seeks to address.

A key feature will be the fostering of improved cooperation between the three countries involved, which are Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe, as well as the forging of closer links in areas like flood forecasting with countries with dams on the Limpopo, such as Botswana.

Numerous activities are planned including the creation of regional land management action plans.  These may involve the better protection and restoration of natural flood defences such wetlands that are able to absorb floodwaters.

Studies, pin pointing regional and national gaps in flood warning and alert systems, are to be undertaken alongside improved training of national experts in these areas.

Flood awareness seminars and information packs, distributed in local languages, are also part of the new initiative.

Surveys of "safe" areas will also be carried out to identify areas along the lower LimpopoRiver basin where both rural and urban communities and livestock can go when a flood alert is issued.

The project was launched today by John William Kachamila, Mozambique’s Minister for Coordination of Environmental Affairs.  He said the new initiative was vital for reducing the vulnerability of communities living in flood prone areas.

Notes to Editors

The UNEP/GEF Medium-Sized Project on Sustainable Land Use Planning for IntegratedLand and Water Management for Disaster Preparedness and Vulnerability Reduction in the LowerLimpopoBasin is a two-year project.

It is the first time that UNEP/GEF and UN-HABITAT have collaborated in this kind of exercise.

Close to a million dollars is being provided by GEF with support in cash and in kind from Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe and UN-HABITAT.

It is being implemented in the framework of the Action Plan for the Environment Initiative of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

Today’s launch was attended by experts and officials from the three countries involved as well as those from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the World Bank, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization and UN-HABITAT.

For more information, please Contact:  Eric Falt, Spokesperson/Director of UNEP's Division of Communications and Public Information, tel:  +254-20-623292, cell:  +254-733-682656, e-mail: eric.falt@unep.org or Nick Nuttall, UNEP Head of Media, on tel.: +254-20-623084, cell:  +254-733-632755; e-mail:  nick.nuttall@unep.org.

For more information on UNEP/GEF activities, see www.unep.org/gef.

For information on the NEPAD Environment Initiative, see www.unep.org/gef/nepad.

Jim Sniffen, UNEP, at tel.: +1-212-963-8094/8210, info@nyo.unep.org, www.nyo.unep.org.

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