Southern Africa & South-West Indian Ocean

At the same time, over 700,000 people suffered from the impacts of cyclone Gombe in Mozambique, leading to the displacement of 23,000 persons. In Malawi, over half a million people were affected and more than 190,000 persons were displaced by tropical storm Ana in 2022. Following a series of almost annual climate-related devastation, Malawi witnessed devastating floods and mudslides when tropical cyclone Freddy made landfall in March 2023. Marked as one of the worst cyclones in Malawi’s history to date, more than 1,100 lives were lost, and destruction, and mass population displacement of more than 659,000 people followed in its aftermath. In Mozambique, the same cyclone affected close to 1,190,000 people and forced more than 140,000 people to seek shelter in temporary accommodation centres.

Across the Comoros archipelago, cyclone Kenneth caused major devastation in 2019, affecting more than 340,000 persons and displacing over 20,000 people. Likewise, natural hazards are also becoming more frequent and severe in Mauritius and Seychelles as climate change progresses. Coastal degradation, inadequate water resources, and loss of biodiversity increase their vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, with especially climate-sensitive economic sectors, food security and health being adversely affected.

For the past 30 years, all disaster-prone island states and territories of the South-West Indian Ocean have gradually put in place prevention and disaster preparedness measures, either at regional or national level, that have produced positive results in reducing human losses from disasters. However, during the same period, damages and losses from disasters have had a high economic and fiscal impact, with economic losses totalling up to USD 17.2 billion.

In 2023 - 2024, many parts of Southern Africa have endured the worst mid-season dry spell in over 100 years, marred by the lowest mid-season rainfall in 40 years. These El Niño-induced weather events have led to widespread crop failure, water shortages and livestock deaths. More than half of the annual harvest has been destroyed, leading to rapidly depleting stocks and increasing food prices. The drought has led to a surge in displacement, disease outbreaks and food shortages, negatively impacting national economies, and pushing an estimated 24 million in situation of crisis level of worst food insecurity.

Climate impacts are exacerbated by poverty, insufficient access to basic services, unplanned and rapid urbanization, food insecurity, ecosystem degradation, armed conflict, and violence. Furthermore, climate change exacerbates power dynamics and structures that serve to reinforce social and gendered inequalities. Specifically, women, children, the elderly, and disabled, are disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change due to unequal access to livelihood services, productive assets, restrictive cultural norms and limited involvement in communal decision-making processes.

Yet, in countries like Malawi, principles of matriliny organized social structures in the pre-colonial period. This afforded women rights to land, property, products of labour, and children, and influence in group decision-making. The mid-19th century ushered in a period of disturbances and social transformations that led to changes in economic, political, religious, and familial practices. Changes in key institutions impacted women’s access to land and their influence in governance. In the first two decades of the 21st century, the government of Malawi responded to pressures from women’s rights advocates to legislate against gender-based violence and child marriage. However, there has been little evidence of sustained and coordinated women’s movements and activism aimed at improving women’s socio-economic status. Throughout its implementation, RE2CLID will look at traditional culture and ways to support gender-transformative access to, and distribution of, natural resources and livelihoods and address the power relationships between women and others in the communities where it will intervene.