LocationsBy Teketel Daniel, Disaster Risk Management Programme Specialist, UNDP Ethiopia's Climate Resilient and Environmental Sustainability Unit
Investing in Data – Helping Ethiopia put in place systems to track disaster loss and damage
December 5, 2024
Flood emergency in Somali region
OCHA Ethiopia
Climate change poses a significant current and impending threat to Ethiopia’s development, further heightening existing socio-economic vulnerabilities.
Natural hazards and increasing climate variability keep on diluting remarkable development gains on both economic and non-economic fronts.
Ethiopia submitted its first updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in 2020, which targets an emissions reduction target of 68.8% by 2030. The country is also working to submit its updated NDCs by 2025 from 2031 to 2035.
The updated NDCs build upon the Climate Resilient Green Economy strategy (CRGE), Ethiopia’s 10-Year Development Plan, the Green Legacy Initiative, and the National REDD+ Strategy, among others.
Climate Financing
In 2011, Ethiopia reached an ambitious milestone announcement at the Durban COP 17 with the establishment and operationalization of Ethiopia’s Climate Resilient Green Economy Strategy (2011-2025). The strategy promoted a cross-sectoral approach to drive a carbon neutral and climate resilient middle-income economy. The Climate Resilient Green Economy Facility, hosted by the Ministry of Finance, plays a critical role in helping Ethiopia mobilise climate financing.
The CRGE strategy required US$ 150 billion, an average of $ 7.5 billion annually until 2030.
According to Landscape of Climate Finance in Africa 2024 report, only 23% of Africa’s estimated annual finance requirements to implement the NDCs and deliver on the 2030 climate goals is currently being met.
While financing gaps remain, Ethiopia is one of the top 10 recipients of Africa’s climate finance(1) . These ten countries accounted for 46% of climate financing to the continent.
In 2019 Ethiopia’s Ministry of Finance drafted a Fiscal Risk Statement in what was said to be a first step towards identifying disaster-related fiscal risks (2), a qualitative assessment that showcased the need to invest in data. One of the recommendations of the Ethiopia Climate and Disaster Risk Finance Diagnostic report (2022) was for the creation of a national database of disaster response costs.
The Loss and Damage Fund
The establishment of the Loss and Damage Fund was agreed upon during COP27 held in Egypt to assist developing countries to have access to climate finance to respond to economic and non-economic loss and damage driven by climate-related shocks.
Such shocks include those resulting from extreme whether phenomena and slow onset events.
During COP28 in the United Arab Emirates, a decision was made to launch the fund's operations.
COP29, held in Azerbaijan in November 2024, came up with significant steps towards ensuring the fund's operationalization. Several important agreements related to the Loss and Damage Fund were signed, including the "Trustee Agreement" and "Secretariat Hosting Agreement" between the fund's board and the World Bank.
To date, the amount of financial pledge by governments to this fund exceeds $730 million.
Ethiopia will be eligible to access funds, if only it can develop a strong national account of evidence on disaster loss and damage.
One may wonder what the benefits would be prioritising a government-owned national disaster damage and loss tracking system in place.
Flood response in Somali region, Ethiopia
OCHA Ethiopia
Well, the benefits are many, and consider the following:
A reactive crisis response approach is in stark contrast with a proactive disaster risk management strategy. Ethiopia has been on the move from the former to the latter over many years now. Successful and complete transition in this regard, however, depends on the ability to make evidence-based policy and programmatic decisions. Having a comprehensive national disaster loss and damage tracking system in place will significantly strengthen Ethiopia’s proactive stance.
Despite the awareness that climate-induced shocks are increasing on a global scale, the ease of access to climate finance appears slimmer tighter, necessitating a more thorough analysis and a robust evidence base. The loss and damage tracking system steps into that gap, providing traceable national evidence on trends and impacts of disasters both in the economic and non-economic realms. This in turn makes a strong justification for accessing essential climate finance form the global sources, including the newly established Loss and Damage Fund.
As Ethiopia unveils its long-term low emissions development strategy (LT- LEDS), which envisions a net zero emissions reached by 2050, UNDP has every reason to support the government on access to climate finance. Hence, the loss and damage tracking system will be one of the tools to contribute to the success of efforts on long-term decarbonization and climate resilience.
What we have learned from the process so far:
A two-layer engagement of government staff (i.e. decision makers and senior subject matter experts) has worked well. This has enabled UNDP to quickly get the buy-in from the government.
in November 2024, ahead of COP29, UNDP brought its disaster risk specialists to Addis Ababa for a high-level technical support on country level engagement. 12 national government institutions were brought together to learn from global experience and agreed on the next steps for Ethiopia’s work plan around loss and damages drafted earlier that year during a multi-country workshop in Kenya.
Given the unique roles of each of the sectoral ministries in a multi-hazard context, a decision to involve a wide range of sectors was a wise decision. This approach helps develop an appropriate and standardized data collection format and lay the good ground for ensuring accountability and ownership of the process once the database is set to run.
Building on long term partnerships
UNDP and the EU were among the key partners that supported the establishment and operationalization for the CRGE strategy, and implementation of climate related projects.
Our climate change adaptation, mitigation, and disaster risk management projects/programmes jointly implemented over the years by several government counterparts have contributed to slowly helping Ethiopia address climate resilience. Public institutions included the Ministry of Planning and Development, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Water and Energy, Ethiopian Environment Protection Authority, Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Commission, Ethiopian Forestry development, among others.
Supporting the government’s effort towards effective disaster loss accounting was one of the key areas of UNDP’s engagement within the overarching goal of strengthening the national risk information systems.
The EU, through its ACP Natural Disaster Risk Reduction Programme, has financed a multi-country Disaster Risk Governance and Recovery Capacities projects in Ethiopia, Burundi, Cameroon, Kenya and Togo.
The project seeks to support integrated solutions for risk-informed development.
One of the key areas of focus is strengthening and institutionalizing national disaster loss and damage accounting systems/databases. In Ethiopia, Key Contributions have been the following:
Capacity Building: UNDP has brought in experts to train federal and regional stakeholders, ensuring that national and sub-national actors are equipped to collect, analyse, and manage disaster data. The capacity building effort has also given a due emphasis to strengthening the newly established ‘Loss and Damage Unit at EDRMC.
Sectoral Engagement: The system integrates data from various sectors, ensuring accountability and standardization. This approach enhances inter-ministerial collaboration and ensures the system’s sustainability. The EDRMC has brought together national stakeholders under a technical working group.
Ethiopia stands at a critical juncture in its climate resilience journey. The establishment of a national disaster loss and damage tracking system is more than a technical project—it’s a cornerstone for sustainable development, risk reduction, and climate finance mobilization. The UNDP-EU partnership exemplifies how international collaboration can empower countries to tackle global challenges with local solutions.
The partnership will help Ethiopia to put place a government-owned national damage and loss tracking system to help make Ethiopia ready to access climate finance from the damage and loss fund once funds are ready to be released.
Footnote
1 https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/landscape-of-climate-finance-in-africa-2024/
2 https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099101023143018133/pdf/P1706650f53bd800e08c1205b7715cd3013.pdf
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