By Abdulkareem Haruna


DAKAR  – African nations are losing between two percent (2%) and five (5%) of their GDP annually to climate-related catastrophes, a United Nations official stated at a recent webinar, urging for a shift from post-disaster reconstruction to proactive risk management.


Speaking at a virtual event hosted by the African Media Network for the Promotion of Health and the Environment (REMAPSEN), Fanny Langella, a content and networks unit head at the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), highlighted the profound economic toll of disasters on local communities.


“The management of risks is not just a humanitarian issue; it deeply affects development,” Langella said, detailing how the UNDRR was established in 1999 to transition away from reactive humanitarian aid.


Langella noted that the UNDRR’s primary role is to coordinate and implement global frameworks, most notably the Sendai Framework. The framework, she explained, aims to “break the vicious cycle of catastrophe, loss, and reconstruction” by promoting prevention and resilience. A key objective of this framework is to bolster international funding and cooperation for vulnerable nations, a message that the UNDRR has brought to global forums like the COP climate summit.


In her presentation, Langella outlined the immediate economic repercussions faced by African countries, which include the destruction of infrastructure and housing, as well as significant disruption to the agricultural sector. She also pointed out the challenges of incomplete economic data, which often fails to capture the “silent disasters” that disproportionately impact local communities.


These smaller-scale events, she explained, create a ripple effect of negative consequences, including household debt, children dropping out of school, and weakened public finances.


“These effects generate negative spirals,” she said, describing how the cumulative costs of rebuilding can slow economic growth and exacerbate unemployment and inequality.
Langella concluded by emphasizing the critical role of media in bringing attention to these often-overlooked events, which, while less dramatic than major catastrophes, systematically erode the resilience of communities across the continent.