The African Union recently established the African Risk Capacity (ARC) Secretariat, a specialized agency whose main goals are to reduce disaster risk to droughts, floods, earthquakes and cyclones; and to lessen hunger and food crisis in the African countries hit by drought. With this purpose the experts will use satellite weather surveillance technology and software developed by the UN World Food Programme.
Senegal has a pioneering status in this project; its government organized a technical workshop last July to educate stakeholders about risk modeling and the use of satellite-based information. Abdou Sané, UNISDR Parliamentary Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and member of Parliament from Senegal acclaimed the creation of the ARC.
