Namibia: Country Case Study Report. How Law and Regulation Support Disaster Risk Reduction
Namibia is vulnerable to a range of natural hazards, especially drought and flooding. Flooding is an annually recurring event which is worsening each year, with the northern and northeastern regions being the worst affected. Drought is increasingly difficult to predict in the country. In 2013, Namibia experienced an extensive and prolonged drought throughout the country. Namibia is extremely susceptible to the impacts of climate change, especially the increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, which is exacerbating Namibia’s already water-stressed situation.
Historically, Namibia’s efforts to combat the impact of disasters have been focused almost exclusively on relief for flooding and drought. This strategy was governed by a legal framework (the Civil Defense Act and the Civil Defense Ordinances) which was inherited from the South African colonial administration.
Namibia has a relatively new national framework for Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), which includes the Disaster Risk Management Act (DRMA) of 2012, the National Disaster Risk Management Plan of 2011, and the National Disaster Risk Management Policy of 2009. This framework is representative of the wider global paradigm shift away from a disaster response approach to one of comprehensive DRM that takes account of a wide range of hazards and stakeholders. The framework is aligned to relevant international agreements such as the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-15, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Africa Regional Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction.
This report assesses the content and implementation of the relatively new DRM framework and related legislation in Namibia. Legal frameworks for specific sectors are assessed to review the extent to which they support DRR.
The integration of DRR and development goals in various national policies and strategies demonstrates the government’s commitment to addressing the risks the country faces from natural hazards. However, in the most recent National Development Plan, DRR is given little attention. This report and its conclusions highlight the ways in which law and regulation in Namibia are supporting, or may in future support, DRR, and balance this against some of the main gaps that exist both in law and in practice.
Commissioned by UNDP, this report is one of a series of case studies undertaken jointly with the IFRC as part of a global research project examining how law and regulation can support disaster risk reduction.