Zambia to receive $13 million for disaster management, mitigation

Zambia will this year benefit more than US$13 million for disaster management and mitigation from the Africa Risk Insurance Programme under the African Union.

Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit National Coordinator, Dr Gabriel Pollen, said the funds were expected to be released by June this year.

Pollen said this on the sidelines of the African Risk Capacity (ARC) Agency Conference of the Parties in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Tuesday.

This is according to a statement issued in Lusaka on Wednesday by Inutu Mwanza, the First secretary for Press and Tourism at the Zambian mission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

“Zambia has substantially benefited from being a member of the Africa Risk Capacity, including an insurance premium payment amounting to 5.5 million dollars during the 2022 drought,” he said.

The DMMU National Coordinator also said following this year’s drought, government had come up with a drought response mechanism that would help mitigate the impact of the drought.

He stated that the government was focused on ensuring adequate resources were allocated to water harvesting infrastructure to harness and utilize the water resources the country was endowed with.

“Drought in the future could be mitigated by the robust intervention in irrigation infrastructure that the government will be undertaking,” Pollen added.

He said through irrigation, it was envisaged that agricultural production would increase and ensure food security with adequate surplus for export.

On the ratification of African Risk Capacity Treaty, Pollen said Zambia would ratify the treaty as soon as internal processes were finalized, and that it also included Parliament approval.

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