Joyce Keston, 47, from Mtemangawa, Traditional Authority (T/A) Malemia in Nsanje District survived the devastating Cyclone Freddy which killed her neighbours in March 2023.
The cyclone caused devastating floods that damaged homes, washed away crops, livestock, schools and healthcare facilities in her rural locality.
“Today, our fertile farmland is buried in sand and rocks, no longer favourable for food production,” says the mother of four. “Water points were also damaged.”
Keston was among the 3.8 million people affected by acute food insecurity caused by flooding, post-disaster assessments show.
Most of the survivors still subsist on humanitarian aid from government and its organisations.
“Our land is no longer usable,” says Keston, the vice-chairperson of Mtemangawa Village Development Committee.
The committee sourced K5 million from Trocaire, through Churches Action in Relief and Development (Card), to construct a dyke around their village.
“With Cyclone Jude last month, we didn’t feel it much because of the dyke, though it only covers a part of the village due to funding gaps,” adds Keston.
Card district projects coordinator Jemina Phiri says communities equipped to adapt to climate change are better prepared to withstand the onset of climate-related disasters.
“Considering the massive loss and damage, we provided them with cash and technical knowledge on how to build a dyke. This is besides training them to manage village savings and loans so they adapt to climate change challenges,” states Phiri.
According to the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma), Cyclone Freddy affected over 2.2 million people across the Southern Region, leaving 2 500 dead and hundreds still missing.
Dodma estimates the loss and damage at $506 million, with about $680 million required for recovery and reconstruction.
Climate change experts say African countries are losing five to 15 percent of their GDP to climate change, erasing years of progress.
This costs developing economies over $525 billion.
It also causes increasingly severe and irreversible damage to ecosystems, infrastructure and livelihoods despite Africa’s minimal contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions.
Last month, participants at the 4th African Regional Conference on Loss and Damage in Lilongwe proposed strategies for accelerating mobilisation and access to climate finance for impactful locally led loss and damage and adaptation.
To Civil Society Network on Climate Change national coordinator Julius Ng’oma, the Loss and Damage Fund established in 2023 at CoP28, the 28th UN Climate Change Conference held in Egypt, demonstrated a commitment to addressing un-adaptable and unmitigated climate impacts.
“We want developed countries to provide more climate financing to deal with losses and damages because their gas emissions contribute to effects of climate change, which we Africans experience,” he says.
Ng’oma says activating the Santiago Network on Loss and Damage would ensure developing countries report and account for loss and damages requiring action.
Pan-African Climate Justice for Action head of programmes and research Charles Mwangi asks multilateral financial institutions to simplify access to climate finance without conditionalities that hinder African countries from tapping the much-needed resources.
“They should also establish a fair and transparent climate finance architecture that ensures direct access for frontline communities and prevents the dominance of intermediaries that slow down or misallocate funds,” he says.
Populations that bear the brunt want climate financing to flow directly to victims.
“We want such funds to be in the form of grants and should be directly given to affected communities for speedy handling of adaptation programmes in our areas,” says Keston.
But recently, the United Nations Development Programme resident representative Fenella Frost urged Malawi to embrace strategic resource mobilisation and utilisation, including capacity building.
Some development partners want African countries to rethink their approach to climate financing amid donor fatigue and aid freezes.
Concurring, Minister of Natural Resources and Climate Change Owen Chomanika says there is a need to explore untapped climate financing avenues, including domestic and private contributions, as African countries struggle to access global funds due to harsh loan conditions.
He says: “For years, we have left the private sector out of our climate finance discussions and yet they are an important player sector in bringing climate solutions.
“We need to concretize discussions on the best approach for enhancing collaboration with the private sector on climate change management,” he says.
A communique released at the Lilongwe conference calls for a global shield to upscale support to African countries facing existential threat to loss and damage.
They also petitioned for flexible financial support for country-driven, needs-based climate solutions.
