Cyclone Freddy hit southern Africa in March, leaving death and severe devastation in its path. For international development specialist VICTOR MPONDA-BANDA, the disaster is a stark warning of the vulnerability of the poorest countries to the climate threat fuelled by developed economies whose broken promises have left the vulnerable poor on their own:

If there are still people sceptical of climate change, then Cyclone Freddy, which devastated Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar in March, must be irrefutable proof that global warming is present global danger.

There has been heavy loss of life, property, and critical infrastructure.

According to the World Meteorological Organisation, the longest lasting tropical cyclone on record formed in northwest Australia in February before travelling across the Indian Ocean.

It hit the island nation of Madagascar and then traversed the Mozambican channel twice before causing fatalities and severe damage in Malawi’s Southern Region on March 12.

In Malawi, severe floods and landslides caused by heavy rainstorms accompanied by destructive winds destroyed structures in its path.

The death toll was estimated to reach 1 200, with more than 500 000 people displaced.

The extent of the damage across the affected 14 districts compelled President Lazarus Chakwera to declare a State of Disaster and appeal for international support for nearly 2.2 million affected people, including the displaced scattered in over 500 emergency evacuation camps.

The government released $1.6 million to manage the aftermath of the calamity and the immediate needs of the victims, including food, clean water, clothing, shelter and healthcare. 

More support is required as the tragedy struck at the height of a lean season.

The cyclone destroyed maturing crops, severely reducing harvest, leading to food insecurity, the loss of markets and people’s incomes.

The catastrophe will certainly impede Malawi’s progress towards achieving its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets.

Beyond the immediate humanitarian response, the Cyclone Freddy should trigger serious action to counter the climate crisis.

Rehabilitation and reconstruction must involve significant adaptation efforts and resilience-building initiatives.

This means the reform of land-use policies and practices, infrastructure development standards and regulations, human settlement and town planning.

It will require the strengthening of relevant institutions to enhance the country’s capacity to cope with such disasters likely to become more frequent and more devastating.

Agriculture is the backbone of southern African economies, so the region  must adopt climate-smart and precision farming methods.

This is a defining moment for Malawi and its neighbours. They must use the tragedy to catalyse efforts to build resilience.

There is a window for strategic policy action to enhance disaster preparedness and risk reduction.  

A broken promise?

Cyclone Freddy is a continuation of disasters southern Africa has witnessed in recent years.

Floods and storms have devastated lives, property and livelihoods across the region.

Africa accounts for less than four percent of global emissions, but suffers disproportionately from climate-related disasters.

This latest catastrophe is a stark reminder of the injustices suffered by countries that contribute least to the causes of global warming.

The danger is real. The destruction of Freddy is a tragic testament to climate injustice.

The most vulnerable communities are out of sight and out of mind of the historical perpetrators of climate change, who have been the world’s biggest polluters.

These developed economies in the global north must honour commitments to assist poorer nations in adapting to and mitigating the climate crisis.

The health of people and the planet hinges on decisive global leadership.

That is the message of the latest report  by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), coincidentally issued soon after Cyclone Freddy struck.

This is a call for neither charity nor favour, but a reminder of an urgent obligation to which developed nations have committed.

It is a responsibility they cannot shirk, one that they reaffirmed in 2021 at CoP 26, the UN Climate Change Conference held in Glasgow, Scotland. They recommitted last year at CoP27 in Egypt.

However, the national goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have fallen short of what the science says is needed to limit the global temperature rise to an acceptable level.

“The rich world has created the climate crisis, they have agreed they will pay to clean it up, but they have broken their promise and left those that have done the least to suffer and try and cope with the consequences,” says Khadija Mohamed Al Makhzoumi, Minister for Environment and Climate Change in Somalia.

Nations adopted the Glasgow Climate Pact to turn the 2020s into a decade of climate action and support.

This includes a range of plans, including strengthening efforts to build resilience, curb greenhouse gas emissions and provide finance for both.

Developed nations reaffirmed their commitments to provide $100 billion annually to developing countries, yet wealthy countries such as Germany and the US have broken their promise to shift finance from fossil fuels towards adaptation.

While there is steady support in the billions of dollars for Ukraine’s conflict with Russia, the global effort to wage the monumental war of survival against climate change is flagging.

Are the most vulnerable developing countries such as Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar on their own?

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