Madagascar signs grant agreement for risk analytics support
The Global Risk Modelling Alliance (GRMA) programme has signed a grant agreement with Madagascar's Cellule de Prévention et d'appui à la Gestion des Urgences (CPGU) on behalf of the Government of Madagascar on 16 May, 2024. The agreed GRMA programme will provide the Government of Madagascar with relevant climate risk models and tools, informing its Request for Support to the Global Shield against Climate Risks.
Due to its geographical location in the southwestern Indian Ocean, Madagascar faces significant vulnerability to climate change. The country is exposed to various climatic hazards including tropical cyclones, floods, droughts, red sandstorm, landslides, locust invasion and coastal erosion. Climate change predictions suggest rising temperatures, increased frequency of very hot days, potential decreases in annual rainfall, and intensified heavy precipitation or cyclone events.
In order to enhance the resilience of vulnerable populations against the impact of extreme weather events, the CPGU, representing the Government of Madagascar, has signed a grant agreement with AXA Climate for risk analytics as implementing partner of the GRMA, a partnership harnessing private and public risk expertise.
After an expression of interest by CPGU and the Ministry of Finance to the GRMA, requesting its technical assistance in strengthening Malagasy technical capacities in risk modelling, the GRMA team conducted two in-country multi-stakeholder workshops in 2023 to identify needs in terms of risk data and modelling, as well as activities relating to Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance (CDRFI).
The GRMA application by Madagascar outlined the following five areas of support:
- Modeling how climate shocks affect Madagascar's economy and helping develop the Climate Prosperity Plan.
- Creating a comprehensive risk profile for multiple hazards, including cyclone, floods, drought, landslides, erosion, fires, red sandstorms, and locust invasions.
- Setting up a unified database to manage and utilize information on hazards, exposure, capacity, vulnerability, damage, and loss more effectively.
- Simulating floods caused by cyclones or adverse weather conditions.
- Predicting internal displacements due to both natural disasters and human-made hazards.
As part of this agreement, a country workshop and signing ceremony were held in Antananarivo to convene key officials and subject matter experts from Madagascar alongside representatives from the consortium service provider led by AXA Climate. Day one of this workshop aimed to delve deeper into Madagascar's requirements for model and data support of GRMA and to introduce the lead service provider and stakeholders to each other, a key step in launching the project implementation phase. Alongside AXA Climate as the primary service provider, the consortium comprises BRGM, a prominent French public institution specializing in Earth Science applications, and Artelia, a local consulting firm. The second day of the workshop provided a platform for dialogue with representatives from GRMA and the Global Shield initiative.
The Global Shield Board endorsed Madagascar as a Global Shield country in April this year, following a thorough prioritization process. Once the In-Country Process of the Global Shield will be launched in Madagascar, alignment between the Global Shield and GRMA will be established. Madagascar joining the Global Shield is a significant development and emphasizes Madagascar's commitment to building resilient communities capable of effectively navigating climate and disaster-related challenges. It also highlights the effectiveness of collaborative initiatives like the Global Shield and partnerships such as GRMA in addressing global climate resilience.
Dr. Annette Detken, Head of GRMA (Public Sector), said:
Being heavily affected by droughts, cyclones, flooding and landslides, Madagascar requires more tools and data to understand how climate change will affect its vulnerable population and economic development. The GRMA team is proud to support the Government of Madagascar to develop its own technical expertise in analysing the climate risks it faces. This will help our partners to better address the impacts of climate change, build its resilience and secure previous development achievements.
Colonel Remi Rolland RAKOTO ANDRIAMANALINARIVO, Executive Secretary of CPGU, said:
Madagascar is aware of its high vulnerability to various climatic hazards so that the Government has chosen to opt for a strategy aimed at gradually building resilience to promote its sustainable development. But it is difficult to properly work towards resilience without a good risk knowledge based on a well-founded methodology and also reliable, up-to-date and usable data for decision-making and planning. The collaboration with the GRMA programme arrives at the right time because it supports the initiatives taken by the Government in terms of promotion of financial protection mechanisms, in particular climate insurance. These efforts justify the realisation of the implementation of axis 4 of the National Strategy for Disaster Risk Management that calls for the development of the practice of knowledge and information management for the benefit of DRM/DRR. The Government of Madagascar would like to express its deep gratitude to the GRMA Program for agreeing to provide support to Madagascar in the implementation of this phase 1.