Flood Management for Risk-Informed Urban Development in eThekwini

The Second Live Event for the Learning Process on Flood Management for Risk-Informed Urban Development was hosted in eThekwini, South Africa from November 7th until 9th 2023. Building upon the lessons of the previous session in Windhoek, Namibia, the second installment of the yearlong learning process allowed for a great diversity of participants, ranging from academics, technical experts to regional, national and municipal governmental and/or non-governmental representatives. Participants reconvened and continued the peer-to-peer exchange and sharing of methodological approaches, for finding risk informed solutions in their respective cities. More than 40 participants from 14 different cities across 12 countries from Sub-Saharan Africa, the SADC Region and Germany, engaged in a face-to-face consultation and intervision round-tables benefitting from a wide range of knowledge and experiences. GIZ’s Connective Cities hosted the event together with the Global Initiative on Disaster Risk Management (GIDRM) and the Resilience Initiative Africa (RIA), to promote cooperation and coordination across sectors and strengthen the capacities of regional, national and local state and non-state actors to implement risk informed development in urban disaster risk management.

The key corner stone of the Learning Process is the framework of Risk informed Urban Development (RIUD), a newfound path towards urban resilience that has been gaining momentum within the landscape of greater development. Dr. Mmaphaka Tau (GIZ-RIA), emphasized the importance of having all actors responsible for the governance of cities such as NGOs, academics, municipal, provincial, national, and regional actors, local communities, and technical experts working jointly to ensure that development pathways are coherent, reduce existing risk and prevent the creation of new risks. Under the RIUD framework set for the learning process, the thematic foci included the following structuring and/or guiding entry points for the development of solutions for RIUD including inter alia DRR and climate change adaptation strategies, bankable concepts and/or projects:

1. Understanding and managing the various and interconnected drivers of flood risks, that cities are exposed to.
2. Identifying possible green infrastructure and nature-based approaches as risk informed solutions to address flooding in cities.
3. Improving the flows of risk communication and risk governance

The workshop was opened with speeches from the Deputy Mayor of eThekwini, Zandile Myeni, and the Mayor of Cologne, Andreas Wolter, both of whom detailed the significant risk flooding posed to their respective communities. eThekwini and Cologne both lay along significant waterways, the former exposed to vast coast lines of the Indian Ocean, and the latter split by the historic Rhein River.

eThekwini is no stranger to the perilous nature of flood damage, just last Spring the city faced heavy damage from floods which barreled through its community. eThekwini municipal representatives demonstrated their ability to learn from the experience and aim to make their city risk-informed and more resilient. This is particularly relevant in the context of development, as communities need to consider an ever-broader array of interdependent, yet transboundary and dynamic risks.

Mayor Andreas Wolter, a sitting member of Climate Alliance‘s Executive board, emphasized that resilience building and climate justice require bolstering global funds and grant mechanisms to ensure that local governments and national governments can sufficiently invest in RIUD. Mayor Wolter alluded to the 2021 Western European floods, that caused unprecedented damages in North Rhine-Westphalia. While reconstruction and build back better programs are still in implementation, the Mayor of Cologne stressed that Germany does not have the capacity to carry out the scale of reconstruction needed, should this recur. From the lens of climate justice, He appealed towards the urgent need for mobilizing climate funds and investing into preparedness and prevention measures to protect populations and developmental gains, especially in cities and their urban catchments.

“Disaster management is everybody’s business, and its success depends on collective efforts.” Mr. Thabo Khupari, representing the Head of the National Disaster Management Center of South Africa (Chief Directorate: Disaster Preparedness, Response and Recovery Coordination of the NDCM) echoed the urgent need for mobilizing funds and investing into risk-informed urban development by speaking on the importance of preparedness. Mr. Khupari spoke about the increasing weather and climate change related risks, and their link to social and sectoral vulnerabilities as well as the urbanization trends in South Africa. While these urbanization trends speak to the shared continental challenges on the “urbanization of poverty (townships, informal settlements, and inner cities), Mr. Khupari highlighted the relevance of RIUD as well as the role of the NDMC. In doing so he provided insights to the legal frameworks, their architecture (Institutional capacity, risk assessments, risk reduction, response and recovery) and the enablers (information & communication, training, education & research, and funding) for RIUD in South Africa. A selection of measures as i.e. understanding flood lines, designing systems to separate rainwater from sewer systems, enforcing spatial development practices, building codes, etc. where also highly appreciated by the participants.