Can this portable dam help Africa counter rising waters?
In the Mpanda Commune in north-western Burundi, a long ribbon of rubber – about a metre high and two metres wide – snakes through a farmer’s field before disappearing into foliage.
A woman is sowing her crops alongside the structure, which is bulging with water and circles much of the commune.
The ribbon of rubber, called Slamdam, is designed to protect Mpanda and its 25,000 people from flooding while also acting as a warehouse for water during times of drought — weather extremes expected to become more common as Burundi’s climate changes.
“The project has been very well received by the local population,” said resident Gerard Bucumi. “The cost of installation was very cheap.”
Slamdam is part of a wave of cutting-edge technologies that experts hope will help the developing world adapt to the fallout from climate change, which includes floods, rising seas, scorching temperatures and more severe storms. Africa is especially vulnerable. It contributes only around 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and yet 6 of the 10 countries most threatened by climate change are located on the continent.
“Today, we are reeling from the impacts of climate change,” said Alvin Chandra, Head of the Global Adaptation Network at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “The reality, therefore, is that even if we suddenly halt all greenhouse gas emissions, there would still be an urgent need for the world to adapt to withstand extreme weather events. Technological innovation for adaptation opens the door to scale-up solutions.”
If humanity does not start reducing greenhouse gas emissions immediately, the need for technological innovation to adapt to climate change will only increase, say experts.
Race to adapt
Through the Adaptation Fund Climate Innovation Accelerator, UNEP, the Climate Technology Centre and Network, and the UN Development Programme are administrating grants to innovative adaptation technologies, such as Slamdam. The hope is that those solutions can be scaled up and help Africa build resilience to flooding and drought. (The fund’s third call for proposals is open for applications until 30 September 2022.)
According to UNEP’s Adaptation Gap Report 2021, there is an urgent need to scale-up climate adaptation measures and finance. Estimated adaptation costs in developing countries are five to 10 times greater than current public adaptation finance flows, and the gap is widening.
UNEP has a mandate to help member states scale up planning and action for adapting to climate change. UNEP has supported around 70 adaptation projects in over 50 countries. By 2020, its adaptation project portfolio had mobilized US$340 million on the strength of funding from the Global Environment Facility, the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund.
Holding back the waters
Slamdam, which is portable, was invented in the Netherlands. Two people can fill a 100-metre-section of the barrier in an hour by pumping water into it from a nearby lake or river, explains Omar Saleh, Managing Director of Zephyr Consulting, which helped deploy the Slamdam in Mpanda. Building a traditional 100-metre flood barrier with sandbags would take 14 people at least 20 hours, he said.
Saleh explained that Mpanda is prone to flooding which destroys crops and this discourages the community from planting. “Slamdam was able to harness the flood water enabling the community to plant and also to use the harnessed water for irrigation during the dry season, thus improving their food security.”
He added that the Mpanda Commune project was a pilot and that there were plans to scale up to include a larger area and a larger population.
“With this technology and these kinds of projects, food production will increase, and the negative impacts of floods and other climate changes will be reduced,” he added.
If you have an innovative adaptation project, click here to apply for a grant from the Adaptation Fund Climate Innovation Accelerator programme. The fund is a partnership between the United Nations Environment Programme, the Climate Technology Centre and Network, and the UN Development Programme. The deadline for applications is September 30.
UNEP has also joined hands with the United Nations Development Programme, the German Environment Agency, the Kenyan Ministry of Environment and Forestry, the International Science Council, Future Earth and Sustainability in the Digital Age to launch the Coalition for Digital Environmental Sustainability (CODES). The effort brings together government officials, business leaders and members of civil society to accelerate the use of digital technology in addressing some of the planet’s most pressing environmental challenges.