Building the resilience of individuals, communities, and institutions to the effects of droughts and cyclones, including through climate change adaptation, is the only sustainable solution. However, the situation remains fragile and the current El Niño phenomenon creates significant risk of renewed deterioration of the situation.
When I arrived in Madagascar in late 2020, the country was facing its most serious drought in 40 years. Widespread hunger – called kere – was pushing communities into near famine-like conditions.
As I prepare to leave Madagascar, I remain optimistic that with the right support the most vulnerable communities will be able to realize their hopes for a better life for all people, one based on peace, security and prosperity.
Madagascar has been selected as one of the 30 countries in the UN Secretary-General’s Early Warnings for All Initiative. The country’s action plan for 2024–2027 was the first to be completed globally and was launched in Dubai during COP28 in December 2023. UN News/Daniel DickinsonOver the last three years, we have focused on building resilience to ease the worst effects of future droughts and reduce humanitarian needs in the long term. We aim to move collectively, beyond short-term supply-driven response efforts, to demand-driven results that can reduce people’s risks, needs, and vulnerabilities.
New opportunities
We aim to move collectively, beyond short-term supply-driven response efforts, to demand-driven results that can reduce people’s risks, needs, and vulnerabilitiesMadagascar is the fourth most vulnerable country in the world to climate change. It is recurrently hit by droughts and cyclones that are increasing in frequency, duration and intensity due to climate change. These effects mainly impact the south and south-east of the country.
However, I firmly believe that preventing future crises and accelerating recovery from the effects of repetitive climate shocks requires more than emergency assistance.
However, I firmly believe that preventing future crises and accelerating recovery from the effects of repetitive climate shocks requires more than emergency assistance.
However, I firmly believe that preventing future crises and accelerating recovery from the effects of repetitive climate shocks requires more than emergency assistance.
The sisal helps to lessen the wind’s damaging impact on crops and retains soil moisture, stabilizing coastal sand dunes and providing protection for crops normally affected by the red sandstorms. As a result, communities are now able to grow cash crops in fields which were once lost to the sand.
Her family has access to more nutritious food and she is able to sell what she has left over to pay for children’s education and the family’s health care needs.In Behara and Ifotaka communities, to the south of Anosy region, like elsewhere access to water is a critical issue and a key programmatic entry point for what the UN is calling a Convergence Zones approach, which brings UN agencies together to leverage their expertise and improve outcomes. Households are very dependent on rain-fed agriculture, making them more vulnerable to these increasingly unstable weather conditions.
With drought, crops not only suffer from a lack of water but are also affected by the red sandstorms that destroy the plants and blow away the fertile topsoil. In these conditions, communities struggle to grow key staples and their food insecurity and malnutrition increase, with women often carrying most of the burden.
As Issa Sanogo nears the end of his posting in the capital Antananarivo, he sat down with UN News to reflect on the progress the country and its citizens have made in responding to the climate crisis.To support 2.3 million people in need of assistance, we recently revised our Flash Appeal to consider its potential impact.The increasingly dry and harsh conditions have meant that until recently each plant had only produced about four kilogrammes of the root crop. But now, with the changes she has made, her 100 or so plants are producing 20kg each, which is two tonnes, a surprising harvest on such arid land.UN News/Daniel DickinsonA good and simple example is the cash-for-work programme implemented by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), through which community members obtained an income for planting sisal along the coast. Accessing water to grow crops is a constant concern for many farmers in southern Madagascar.
The plan aims to provide access to early warning systems to everyone in the country by 2027. This is an essential element for reducing humanitarian need and the cost of responses in the long term, and ultimately for progress towards the realization of the 2030 Agenda.
