By KPC Reporter
The East African Community (EAC) has launched an ambitious 10-year Climate Change Strategy aimed at reducing climate-related losses, boosting resilience, and driving sustainable economic growth across the region.
The regional bloc said climate change continues to take a heavy toll on member states, with African countries losing between 2 and 5 percent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) annually due to extreme weather events.
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Additionally, up to 9 percent of national budgets is often diverted to disaster response instead of long-term development.
“In East Africa, these losses are projected to reach between 2 and 4 percent of GDP per year by 2040,” the EAC said in a statement released Friday.
The human cost remains significant.
The bloc noted that drought affected more than 15 million people in 2019, while floods in 2020 displaced over 300,000 people, disrupting agriculture, health systems, and infrastructure.
Currently, about 4.7 million people across EAC partner states face persistent climate-related crises—a figure expected to rise with the inclusion of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia.
The EAC said the region’s vulnerability is heightened by its reliance on rain-fed agriculture, which supports more than half of the population, despite contributing less than 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Rising temperatures are expected to reduce yields of staple crops such as maize and beans by up to 20 percent by 2050.
Speaking during a regional meeting in Arusha, Uganda’s Assistant Commissioner for Production and Infrastructure, William Tayebwa, called for stronger coordination among partner states.
“There is need for coordinated policies and strategic frameworks to effectively address climate risks and strengthen regional resilience,” Tayebwa said.
EAC Acting Director of Productive Sectors Simon Kiarie said the strategy will translate the bloc’s Climate Change Policy into actionable programmes and investments.
“The Strategy is expected to improve access to climate finance by enabling Partner States to develop credible and bankable regional projects,” he said.
The initiative, supported by GIZ and funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), prioritises strengthening early warning systems, promoting low-carbon development, restoring ecosystems, and enhancing governance capacity.
The EAC Secretariat is expected to convene a regional validation meeting by August 2026 ahead of the strategy’s formal adoption.
