CONSULTANCY TO UNDERTAKE CAPACITY BUILDING ARISING FROM IDENTIFIED (MHEWS) GAPS AND NEEDS FROM MEMBER STATES

NAME OF PROJECT:       SADC REGIONAL CLIMATE RESILIENCE PROJECT (RCRP) ASSIGNMENT TITLE:      CONSULTANCY TO UNDERTAKE CAPACITY BUILDING ARISING FROM IDENTIFIED (MHEWS) GAPS AND NEEDS FROM MEMBER STATES SADC Member States are prone to a wide range of natural disasters such as torrential rains, floods, strong and devastating winds, tropical cyclones and tropical depressions, droughts and earthquakes. Hydro-meteorological extreme events such as Tropical Cyclone Dineo in 2017, that traversed and affected several countries stretching from Madagascar all the way to Botswana going through Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Similarly in 2019 Tropical Cyclones Idai and Kenneth affected Comoros, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. In early 2023, Tropical Cyclone Freddy the longest lasting tropical system in history, affected Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique with Malawi bearing the heaviest brunt of its impacts. El Nino driven droughts in the periods (1982–1984, 1991–1993, 2014–2017, 2019-2021 and 2023-2024) have had devastating human, social, economic and environmental impacts. Coastal countries, including South Africa, Angola, Namibia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, and Seychelles experience frequent extreme climate events ranging from drought, floods, tropical cyclones, storm surges, coastal inundation and coastal erosion, including sea level rises. Landlocked countries like Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, also experienced frequent mild to severe droughts.