Ministers responsible for disaster risk management across the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have called for urgent, coordinated regional action to bolster preparedness and response mechanisms ahead of the 2026/27 climate season.
Convening virtually on Thursday, for the Seventh Ordinary Meeting of the SADC Committee of Ministers Responsible for Disaster Risk Management, delegates assessed the region’s readiness to confront escalating climate hazards and an evolving El Niño threat. The high-level session was chaired by South Africa’s Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Velenkosini Hlabisa.
During the deliberations, ministers reviewed the lingering impacts of the 2025/26 rainfall season on regional livelihoods alongside the newly released 2026/27 Seasonal Climate Outlook and the 2026 Regional Synthesis Report on the State of Food and Nutrition Security. With millions across Southern Africa vulnerable to climate-induced shocks, the committee underscored the necessity of shifting away from reactive crisis management toward proactive, forecast-based mitigation.
To anchor this shift, the ministerial committee advanced the SADC Multi-Hazard Regional Anticipatory Action Framework for 2026–2030, a strategic blueprint designed to strengthen community resilience through early warning systems, pre-agreed decision protocols, and pre-arranged financing.
Ministers also focused on eliminating bottlenecks in cross-border humanitarian logistics by evaluating the Regional Prepositioning Strategy, which seeks to ensure emergency relief supplies are strategically stockpiled and mobilised well before forecast hazards strike. Alongside these logistical efforts, delegates scrutinised the full operationalisation of the SADC Humanitarian and Emergency Operations Centre to sharpen the bloc’s collective capacity to anticipate and manage emergencies.
Through these resolutions, SADC aims to place collective responsibility and anticipatory action at the core of its disaster governance as member states brace for the upcoming season.
–ChannelAfrica/SADC–
