East Africa urged to build resilience beyond El Niño

East African governments have been urged to invest in long-term climate resilience as the region prepares for wetter-than-normal conditions linked to a strengthening El Niño weather pattern.

Vi Agroforestry says governments should move beyond emergency responses to floods, landslides and crop losses and invest in measures that can protect communities from future climate shocks.

The organisation says the current El Niño outlook should prompt governments to strengthen early-warning systems, clear drainage channels, protect vulnerable communities, support farmers and prepare emergency services.

However, it warns that short-term interventions cannot address the underlying vulnerabilities created by land degradation, damaged watersheds and exhausted soils.

“The real danger is not El Niño alone. It is extreme weather striking degraded landscapes, exhausted soils and communities whose livelihoods have little protection against climate shocks,” the organisation said.

Vi Agroforestry is calling for greater investment in agroforestry and Sustainable Agricultural Land Management (SALM) as frontline climate resilience measures across East Africa.

It says healthy soils, trees and vegetation can help slow runoff, reduce erosion, improve water infiltration and retain moisture, while also providing communities with food, fodder, fuel and additional income when crops fail.

The organisation is also urging governments and development partners to integrate agroforestry and SALM into national climate adaptation plans, Nationally Determined Contributions, food systems strategies and disaster risk reduction frameworks.

It wants increased support for smallholder farmers through extension services, climate information, farmer field schools and climate-smart agriculture initiatives.

Other proposed measures include community-led landscape restoration, watershed protection, riparian rehabilitation, water harvesting, nature-based flood management and farmer-managed natural regeneration.

Vi Agroforestry is further calling for more financing for locally led adaptation and community resilience programmes, with greater participation of women, youth, pastoralists and other vulnerable groups in climate preparedness and decision-making.

The organisation stressed that agroforestry should complement, rather than replace, conventional disaster preparedness measures.

“Agroforestry will not replace drainage systems, flood-control infrastructure, early warnings or emergency preparedness,” it said, adding that it can help create farms, food systems and landscapes that are less vulnerable when extreme weather strikes.

The organisation said El Niño will eventually pass but climate uncertainty will remain, making long-term investment in resilience critical to preventing future climate shocks from becoming humanitarian emergencies.