Madagascar, a country resilient to the effects of hazards and protected from damage for sustainable development

Madagascar is a country highly exposed to many hazards such as cyclones, floods and drought because of its geographical situation and its climatic conditions. Its location in the Southwestern Indian Ocean basin puts the country in a first position of nations most exposed to cyclones in the African continent. Every year, the damage and losses caused by disasters have negative impacts on the country's development.

In view of this situation and in order to comply with the new international guidelines on disaster risk reduction, the government of Madagascar has amended the national disaster risk management act, which lays out the government’s new policy to disaster risk management, and has updated the national disaster risk management strategy, with a view to consistency with the national development plan and its implementation plan. This updated strategy sets new goals and upholds a holistic vision, which are focused on reducing existing risk and strengthening resilience. It is also aligned with the goals of the Sendai Framework and takes into account not only the prevention of new risks related to environmental, technological and biological hazards and risks, but also to climate change and the gender–sensitive approach. It is a framework document which presents an opportunity from which the country can develop and ensure better and more effective implementation and coordination and harmonization of strategic actions for disaster risk reduction and building the resilience of the Malagasy population.

In addition, in order to build spatial, sectoral, community and infrastructure resilience to climate change impacts, Madagascar has also developed and implemented the Strategic Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR). Finally, the disaster risk financing mechanism for drought with the African Risk Capacity (ARC) is already operational to cover the population affected by drought in the far south of the country.

This paper is a contribution to the 2019 edition of the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR 2019).

To cite this paper: 

Andriamanalinarivo, Remi Rolland; Faly, Aritiana Fabien et al. Madagascar, a country resilient to the effects of hazards and protected from damage for sustainable development. Contributing Paper to GAR 2019