DECLARATION OF THE Regional Consultative Meeting on the Impending El Niño Impacts and Preparation for Early Actions

DECLARATION OF THE

Regional Consultative Meeting on the Impending El Niño Impacts and Preparation for Early Actions

21stOctober2015, Naivasha – Republic of Kenya

We, Members of Parliament (MPs) present, joined by delegates from Member States of Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and East African Community (EAC), namely; the Republic of Burundi, the Republic of Djibouti, the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the Republic of Kenya, the Republic of Rwanda, the Federal Republic of Somalia, the Republic of South Sudan, the Republic of the Sudan, the United Republic of Tanzania and the Republic of Uganda, as well as representatives of humanitarian and development partners meeting in Naivasha, Kenya on 21stOctober 2015 to deliberate the impacts of the El Niño and to prepare for early actions;

Recollecting the strong call made by Heads of State and Government during their Joint East Africa Summit held in Nairobi, Kenya on 9th September 2011,for the reform of the system of emergency humanitarian response in the region, aiming at enhancing resilience and promoting long-term solutions;

Recalling the Statement made by the representatives of the National Assemblies of the IGAD Member States in their meeting in Nairobi, Kenya on 29thNovember 2011 to “establish and enhance disaster risk management capacities in the IGAD region to ensure disaster risks are managed, and their impact is minimized”;

Referring to the GHACOF 41 Statement released on 26th August, 2015 in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania which indicated the likelihood that the equatorial regions will experience enhanced rains while depressed rainfall patterns will be observed in the northern and southern parts of the Greater Horn of Africa (GHA) during the current El Niño period for the September to December rainfall season, resulting into weather and climate related disasters in some countries; and

Realizing the adverse impact that El Niño is already having in some parts of the region and its expected significant impact on humanitarian conditions and the socio-economic sectors of the IGAD and EAC region, mainly agriculture and livestock, education, health, transport and infrastructure. 2

Now the MPs present, Member States’ delegates and the partners do hereby:

1. Take note of the El Niño contingency plans of Member States and encourage them to share their plans with each other;

2. Call upon Member States to commit adequate resources both financial and human, to effectively prepare, mitigate, respond and recover from the El Niño impacts;

3. Further note that some Member States have appealed for additional resources to respond to the unfolding El Niño impacts, as well as pre and post disaster losses and needs assessments;

4. Call upon humanitarian and development partners to support Member States’ appeals for implementation of El Niño contingency plans.

5. Encourage coordination between Member States through the leadership of IGAD and EAC to address cross border aspects of preparedness and response, such as population displacement, spread of human and animal diseases and ensure affected border communities access assistance;

6. Urge agencies responsible for early warning and early action in Member States to ensure that disaster prone communities are aware of the hazards and of the appropriate actions to be undertaken;

7. Call upon ICPAC to establish a regional network of climate communication practitioners with links at the national and sub-national levels, and also encourage Member States to develop effective crisis management communication and dissemination strategies at the national and sub-national levels.

8. Stress the need for regional and national institutions to continue providing leadership and coordination of climate forecasting and weather services through ICPAC;

9. Encourage the Member States to mainstream Disaster Risk Management and climate change adaptation in all relevant institutions and sectors as part of long term approach to building resilience;

10. Urge the IGAD and EAC Secretariats under their Frameworks of Cooperation with Development Partners and Member States to develop operational strategies for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation;

11. Welcome the convening of this regional consultative meeting that brought together senior technocrats from meteorological services, disaster risk management, humanitarian agencies, development partners and decision makers to share the status of preparedness of the region in light of the El Niño impacts;

12. Thank the People and the Government of Kenya for hosting this important meeting;

13. Decide to remain seized of this matter.

Done in Naivasha, Kenya on 21st October 2015