ISLAMABAD: The ‘Anticipatory Action’ (AA) approach that prevents or reduces acute humanitarian impacts of national disasters before they fully unfold, are being tested in provinces of Pakistan where farmers and agricultural livelihoods are particularly vulnerable to extreme floods, droughts and cyclones, says a technical report published by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.

The current anticipatory action interventions in the country have largely been donor-funded, but there are opportunities to mainstream AA into government systems at national and provincial levels, especially through reforms in the national Disaster Risk Financing (DRF) strategy and existing disaster management funds, such as the National Disaster Management Fund (NDMF), says Pakistan Disaster Risk Financing report.

Pakistan is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate and disaster risks and because of frequent and increasingly extreme disasters, a complex DRF architecture to address pre- and post-disaster costs has emerged. In line with the country’s fiscal federalism, related budgets are administered at different levels.

UN Food & Agriculture Organisation’s report indicates opportunities of incorporating such action into govt systems

Reforms of the country’s DRF architecture are currently underway, including following the experience of the devastating 2022 floods. This is illustrated by a forthcoming DRF strategy coordinated by the National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF); implementation of the strategy is intended to be led by the ministry of finance.

In the country, the government and partners are increasingly integrating AA into policy and practice. Among these initiatives, the FAO is implementing a Pilot Programmatic Partnership (PPP), funded by European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), to increase the capacities for and scale of AAs by integrating them into government DRM planning and through social protection systems in the disaster-prone districts of Tharparkar, Umerkot and Dadu in Sindh.

The report says that at the provincial level, particularly in Sindh, there is potential to incorporate AA into provincial disaster management funds (PDMFs), focusing on building local capacities.

The country’s overarching policy and regulatory frameworks governing DRM, in particular the National Disaster Management Act (2010), provide policy space for financing costs of threatening disasters. Ongoing reforms of the country’s DRF architecture provide a timely opportunity for AA mainstreaming.

The report assessed entry points and opportunities for integrating AA into government systems with focus on public DRF. Despite limited evidence of effective mainstreaming into public DRF systems, significant entry points exist and can be leveraged.

Elements of build finance are already being provided not only through project based external finance, but also via Pakistan’s annual development budgets, which could be further scaled up to build and maintain AA systems.

Given the inherent need for AA fuel finance to be made available quickly upon trigger activation, it is potentially more suitable to make finance available close to the level where impacts are felt and anticipatory action is taken.

At the national level, NDMF is a key vehicle that has financed AA like expenditures. Mainstreaming AA into considerations made at the NDMF decision-making level should be further explored.

Since the NDMF is the key mechanism to address costs arising from threatening disaster situations, it is best positioned to serve as a mechanism to co-finance AA fuel costs. A key step towards mainstreaming AA into disaster management systems would be furthering clarity and consensus on what constitutes “threatening disaster situations”, as well as the eligibility requirements for pre-disaster NDMF funding, the report says.

In Sindh and other provinces, supporting the operationalisation and strengthening of PDMFs shows promise for AA integration, as these funds are key mechanisms intended to tackle threatening disaster situations close to the level at which they occur.

Ongoing reforms to fully operationalise these funds and harness their potential for cost-effective AA and early response should be harnessed and efforts should be pursued by provincial disaster management authorities and AA support actors to include AA in specific fund rules and practice. A recent trend towards the earlier distribution of relief items to local levels might offer further potential for AA mainstreaming.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2024