In the past four decades, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has suffered 606 extreme weather events or 36% of all natural disasters on the continent. And as climate change risks increase in frequency or severity, cities will have to be designed and built to withstand future extreme weather events to protect the growing urban population in southern Africa, says a researcher.
These events have led to the loss of lives, livelihoods and have damaged infrastructure and economies. It is estimated 2.7 million people have been left homeless due to these events over the past 40 years. The damage to infrastructure is estimated at $40 billion, says Alize le Roux, senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies.
Le Roux was speaking last week during a webinar hosted by The Hanns Seidel Foundation and Institute for Security Studies on southern Africa's plan for the climate crisis.