Drought case study for Malawi

Abstract

Extreme climate events such as droughts are very common in Malawi and yet their impacts are generally not well factored into the long term National Development Plan. Good examples of the potential hazards of extreme climatic events have been demonstrated by the impacts of the 1948/49 and 1991/92 droughts.

The overall objective of this study is therefore to assess historical droughts that had detrimental effects on the economy. Specifically it aims at developing thematic mapping of areas affected by droughts so as to identify vulnerable zones and to identify profiles of notable droughts in terms of areas affected, their impact and responsive measures.

The study finds that:

- it is evident that drought is recurrent in Malawi and occurs at various intervals and severity

- the frequency is higher in some areas while other areas experience drought less often

- that drought impacts are felt most by the rural poor and that these people look up to government and donors for coping mechanisms

- not all the droughts in Malawi were El Nino induced.

As a way forward, the paper suggests that:

- since the study has been based on 55 years of temporal and spatial rainfall analysis, there is a need to increase the number of years so as to establish whether drought is a phenomena of recent years or not.

- the next updated study should produce a more comprehensive socio-economic analysis.