Disaster Risk Management Diagnostic
Note
Sierra Leone
This note was prepared by a team led by Oscar A. Ishizawa and composed of Luc Bonnafous, Maria
Gaspari, Alex Giron Gordillo, Joaquín Muñoz Díaz, Antonios Pomonis, and Nathalie Wandel.
Disclaimer
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Contents
1. Country Disaster and Climate Risk Profile ....................................................................................1
Historical Disasters ........................................................................................................................ 1
Disaster Risk Profile....................................................................................................................... 3
Cost of Disaster Response and Recovery ...................................................................................... 5
Estimated Range of Annual Disaster Costs ................................................................................... 6
2. Assessing Changes on Future Disaster and Climate-Related Risk ..................................................7
Climate Change and Projected Hazard Patterns ........................................................................... 7
Building Assets Exposed to Coastal Erosion .................................................................................. 7
Urbanization Trends...................................................................................................................... 9
A Building Exposure Model for Sierra Leone .............................................................................. 11
3. Macroeconomic Impact of Disasters .......................................................................................... 15
Country Context .......................................................................................................................... 15
Macroeconomic Impact of Adverse Natural Events ................................................................... 16
Macroeconomic Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic .................................................................. 17
4. Institutional Setting for Disaster Risk Management ................................................................... 18
The Disaster Management Department and the National Disaster Management Agency ........ 18
Early Warning Systems................................................................................................................ 19
5. Financing Disaster and Climate-Related Risks ............................................................................ 20
Ex-ante Risk Financing Instruments ............................................................................................ 20
Ex-post Financing Instruments and Arrangements ..................................................................... 23
6. Impact of Disasters on Poverty and Inclusion............................................................................. 25
Relationship Between Fast-Onset Disasters and Poverty ........................................................... 25
Food Insecurity in Sierra Leone................................................................................................... 26
References....................................................................................................................................... 28
Annex 1. A Disbursement Trigger for a Cat DDO ................................................................................ 31
Annex 2. Assessing Future Climate Conditions in Sierra Leone ........................................................... 33
Annex 3. Fiscal Trends and DRM-Related Expenditure and Budget Allocations ................................... 36
1. Country Disaster and Climate Risk Profile
Historical Disasters
Current Climate and Hazard Context
Sierra Leone is prone to natural hazards such as floods, landslides, tropical storms, coastal erosion, and
droughts that cause severe economic damage and loss of lives with disproportionate effects on the
poorest and most vulnerable.1 Climate change and underlying socioeconomic factors—such as the
increase in urban population exposed to disasters, poverty, and low levels of economic development—
will most likely aggravate the impact of adverse natural events in the future (World Bank, 2017). These
further strains the coping capacity of Sierra Leone as a country which is still recovering from the Ebola
outbreak of 2014–2016 and the current COVID-19 pandemic. Epidemics and other health-related risks—
including cholera and dengue fever outbreaks in the aftermath of floods—are another key concern, as
evidenced by the fact that between 1980 and 2010, epidemics were the deadliest hazard in Sierra Leone,
responsible for 83% of the total number of deaths due to disasters (HARPIS-SL, n.d.).
Sierra Leone has a tropical monsoon climate (Am) with a unimodal wet season generally occurring from
April/May to October/November (Beck et al, 2018; Kamara, 2016; Blinker, 2006). This climate is largely a
product of the West African Monsoon (WAM), a pattern consisting of low-level southwesterly winds
carrying moisture from the Atlantic Ocean inland during the wet season, and northeastern winds during
the dry season (Harmattan), in concordance with the ITCZ migration (CLIVAR; Sylla et al., 2012; Raj et al.,
2019). It is a highly complex phenomena: cumulus-scale to planetary-scale processes influence its timing,
extent, and intensity. It comprises three phases: the onset (March to May), during which the rain belt
expands north from the coast, the high rain period (June-August) initiated by the monsoon jump, an
abrupt shift of the rain belt northward bringing higher rainfall over the Sahel and ending the heavy rain
period over the Guinean coast, and the southward retreat, which starts in September.
A few figures suffice to highlight Sierra Leone’s very hot and wet climate. Average yearly temperature is
around 26–27°C, monthly temperatures oscillate between 24°C and 29°C, diurnal temperatures often
reach 40°C, and very rarely go below 20°C (Kamara, 2016; CLIVAR; Levert 2007; World Bank, n.d.). Both
the rare station data and gridded datasets lead to estimates of precipitation higher than 1,500 mm per
year almost everywhere in the country, with a large part receiving 2,500–3,500 mm (Kamara 2016; World
Bank, n.d.).
This extreme climate leads to risks specific to Sierra Leone’s society. On the one hand, the combination of
such high temperatures and humidity leads to high heat index values, which can cause adverse health
effects and have a detrimental impact on some areas of the economy such as the energy sector.2 On the
other hand, extreme rainfall events can lead to flash floods in urban areas, riverine flooding, and
landslides. In the context of a changing climate, further elements to consider include sea level rise, which
1 For more information on Sierra Leone’s Hazard Profile and Risk Assessments, see HARPIS-SL (Hazard and Risk Profile Information
System – Sierra Leone, by INTEGEMS and UNDP): http://www.harpis-sl.website/index.php/hazard-profiles/sierra-leone-hazard-
profile.
2 High temperatures can affect solar panel efficiency, although some cell types do better than others in tropical regions (Osarumen
et al., 2017; Peters et al., 2018), an aspect to consider as there exists a push for Sierra Leone to rely largely on mini solar grids
and standalone solar panel for the electrification of some communities (see for instance PAD3995). Further temperature
increases likely under climate change could lead to load shedding and impact the country’s energy policy.
1
can increase the potential for coastal erosion, and changes in the WAM timing that could impact
agriculture systems.
Statistics on Historical Disasters
Hazard profiles and experience from past events show that floods, storms, and fires are rather frequent
in Sierra Leone, though often have a limited impact (in other words, partial damages and losses, a reduced
number of people and buildings affected, localized in geographical extent, and event effects limited in
time). On the other hand, landslides, droughts, and epidemics are less frequent but can cause moderate
to large impacts (that is, localized in geographical extent but devastating damages in the case of landslides;
and limited asset damages but a large number of people affected and long-lasting economic disruption in
the case of droughts and epidemics). Thus, different types of events have unique impact characteristics
and require differentiated response approaches with respect to the management of physical assets, and
support to affected households, individuals, and businesses.
Sierra Leone’s historic disaster records are limited (see Figure 1 for summary statistics), but they suggest
that the 2017 mudslide near Freetown was the worst adverse natural event experienced in recent
decades, while the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in 2014–16 represents the most adverse health-
related crisis in the country until 2019. As a result of heavy monsoon rainfall in August 2017, part of the
Sugar Loaf Mountain in the Western Area near Freetown collapsed, triggering a massive landslide. The
landslide and floods affected more than 6,000 people and claimed about 1,141 lives. The total economic
impact of the mudslide and floods was estimated at around $31.7 million, approximately 0.8% of the 2016
GDP (World Bank, 2017). While the effects of the landslide were limited in time and geographical scope,
Ebola affected the entire country and its effects lasted longer than the epidemic’s crisis. About 14,000
Sierra Leoneans were infected by EVD, of whom almost 4,000 died (CDC, n.d.). The total impact of the
EVD crisis in Sierra Leone accounted for $1.9 billion and included adverse fiscal effects through increased
EVD-related spending in a time with falling revenues (World Bank, 2016).
Figure 1. Summary Statistics of Historical Disasters in Sierra Leone (1975–2020)
300,000 6,000
5,359
250,000 5,000
Total Affected
200,000 4,000 Total Deaths
150,000 3,000
100,000 2,000
1,118
50,000 1,000
183 74
0 0
Floods Epidemics Landslides Storms Wildfires
Total Affected (left axis) Total Deaths (right axis)
Source: Authors with data from CRED (2021).
2
Disaster Risk Profile
Multiple disaster, climate-related, and epidemics risk estimates exist for Sierra Leone at national and city-
levels. They include UNDRR’s Global Assessment Report (GAR) 2017, the Multicity Hazard and Risk
Assessment developed by the World Bank and carried out by ARUP, and an historical approach developed
as part of the Sierra Leone Crisis and Disaster Risk Finance Diagnostic conducted by FCI. Examining these
results allows for an understanding of the magnitude of the disaster risk, but caution must be exerted as
the different estimates are not directly comparable. This subsection presents risk estimates to building
and infrastructure for floods and landslide. The cost of response to disaster events is discussed in
subsection 1.3.
Flood Risk
The multicity hazard and risk assessment (World Bank, 2018b) provides information on the probable
damages to buildings and infrastructure from flood events.3 The assessment focuses on fluvial and pluvial
flood, landslide, and coastal flood and sea level rise risk in the cities of Freetown (which accounts for
15.5% of the national population), Makeni (1.7% of the national population), and Bo (2.4% of the national
population). Estimates from a different building stock dataset (METEOR) suggests that these three cities
account for about 59% of the country’s building exposure.
The combined fluvial and pluvial flood Annual Average Loss (AAL) to buildings for these three cities is $2.8
million (0.03% of the modelled exposure). Although data at the national level was not provided, a back-
of-the-envelope extrapolation under different assumptions yields that the national AAL from fluvial and
pluvial floods could be between $3.6 and 6.0 million.4 The exceedance probability curve is presented in
Figure 2, suggesting that flood risk is largely concentrated in the capital Freetown where a flood causing
at least $32 million in losses has a 5% probability of happening any given year. A simple overlay of fluvial
and pluvial flood hazard maps and high-resolution building footprints suggests that about 0.8% of the
buildings in the country are exposed to fluvial flood risk, whereas 4.5% are exposed to pluvial flood risk.5
A second source of information on riverine flood risk at the national level is the Global Assessment Report
(GAR) 2017. The GAR—based on a global approach—estimates an AAL of $7.7 million (0.3% of GAR’s
estimated capital stock). Examining the exceedance probability curve (Figure 3) reveals a saturation of
losses starting from a 50-year return period at $123.6 million (4.1% of the capital stock). However, there
is an important caveat to these estimations: they only consider fluvial flood risk and not pluvial, and
therefore do not account for an important share of the exposure in many urban areas including Freetown
(Figure 4), as characterized by the multicity hazard and risk assessment. Historical records do not quite
match GAR’s spatial distribution of flood risk in the country.
3 Model accounts for educational, government, healthcare, utility and industrial facilities, formal and informal residential
buildings, and road infrastructure.
4 This extrapolation was based on exposure estimates from the METEOR project and the Digitize Africa building exposure dataset,
and the FATHOM Global Flood Hazard Dataset. Different assumptions of the distribution of flood risks were applied. The sole
purpose of this extrapolation is to get an order of magnitude of the AAL at the national level. Considering that it is not based on
a probabilistic or historical risk calculation approach, it corresponds to a rough estimate and should be treated with caution.
5 The Digitize Africa building exposure dataset and the FATHOM Global Flood Hazard Dataset were used to carry out this exercise.
A building was considered to be exposed to fluvial (pluvial) flood risk if it is located in an area that would be flooded by more than
30cm under a 100-year return period fluvial (pluvial) flood.
3
Figure 2. Exceedance Probability Curve of Flood Risk for Freetown, Makeni, and Bo
60
Freetown
50 Makeni
Losses (million $)
Bo
40
30
20
10
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Return Period
Source: ARUP. Reproduced from World Bank (2018b).
Figure 3. Exceedance Probability Curve of Flood Risk for Figure 4. GAR’s 100-Year Return Period
Sierra Leone (national level) Riverine Flood Hazard Map
150
125
Losses (million $)
100
75
50
25
0
0 100 200
Return Period
Source: UNDRR (2017). Source: UNDRR (2017).
Landslide Risk
Quantifying landslide risk is a complex endeavor, as landslides are generally localized events that depend
on a combination of the susceptibility of the terrain to be displaced, and the action of a trigger of
hydrometeorological or geophysical nature such as sustained heavy precipitation or an earthquake. An
assessment of landslide risk in Freetown (World Bank, 2018b) estimates the average annual direct losses
to all buildings at $0.4 million (upper bound of $0.7 million). Results of the assessment indicate that the
highest landslide hazard takes place in the valleys directly beneath the high relief mountainous areas. The
area of Hamilton is particularly exposed to landslide hazard. Other wards with significant landslide hazard
are Regent, Goderich, York, Charlotte, and Bathurst. As expected, landslide hazard is lower in the flatter
coastal regions.
4
A large recent landslide event took place in 2017 in the Western Area Rural District. A rapid Damage and
Loss Assessment (World Bank, 2017) was conducted following the events, assessing the total cost of the
event at $31.7 million, of which 53% correspond to damages (mainly suffered by the housing sector) and
47% correspond to losses (primarily experienced by the social protection and health sectors). Figure 5
shows the spatial extent of the disaster. Although the Regent landslide was unprecedent in size and
magnitude, the large damages and losses suffered reveal the potential for large-magnitude landslide
events in the region, with costs well above the above-presented AAL.
Figure 5. Location of the Regent Landslide (shown in red) and Affected Buildings, and the Flooded Areas
in Dwazark and Culvert (circled in red)
Freetown
Source: World Bank (2017, 2018b).
Cost of Disaster Response and Recovery
Instead of focusing on damages to the building and infrastructure stock, the cost of responding to a
disaster reflects the amount that needs to be mobilized by the government, civil society, and development
partners to cope with the direct and indirect impacts of the event. An historical approach was undertaken
to shed light on the costs of disaster response as part of the Sierra Leone Crisis and Disaster Risk Finance
Diagnostic conducted by the World Bank, which estimates the response cost of adverse natural events
from a humanitarian standpoint based on governmental and humanitarian aid contributions to response.
5
The analysis is based on a limited historical register of 11 years, and highlights that all historical annual
response costs that were available ranged from $4 million to $45 million between 2010 and 2020
(excluding the Ebola response costs in 2014). On average, the historical annual response cost can be
estimated at $15.3 million.6 Although data availability has improved since 2015, records often do not
report on disaggregated costs (in other words, costs for the reconstruction or repair of assets, for social
assistance, and for other emergency measures). The large events of the Ebola Virus Disease in 2014–2016
and the 2017 landslide are an exception to this, and break down estimated response costs. In both cases,
estimated social protection costs accounted for about 10–15% of the overall response costs (World Bank,
2017; GoSL, 2015).
Estimated Range of Annual Disaster Costs
Based on historical events and available disaster risk information, an approximate value of annual costs
of disaster and climate-related shocks in Sierra Leone has been estimated, including asset losses due to
natural perils as well as response costs to support communities. Table 1 below presents a range of the
estimated cost per peril or item based on risk estimates and information from historical events from
various sources. Damages to building and infrastructure assets from perils such as floods, landslides,
windstorms, and fires are estimated to be worth about $5.7–10 million per year. On the other hand, the
annual costs of responding to disasters and epidemics are estimated to be between $9–16.9 million. Due
to limited information and relatively high uncertainty on the available data, the estimates are to be seen
as rough values resulting from ‘back-of-the-envelope’ calculations. The purpose of these estimates is to
get an idea on the overall order of magnitude of disaster risk in Sierra Leone and should not be considered
as definite values. The estimates correspond to the current risk picture, which could increase in coming
years as a result of population growth, urban expansion in disaster-prone areas, and future climate
scenarios.
Table 1. Estimated annual aggregate costs of disasters in Sierra Leone (in million $)
Amount
Peril or Item Comment
Low High
Flood 3.60 6.00 Conservative rough estimates of building and infrastructure losses.
Rough extrapolation of Freetown/Western Area AAL to country level
(Freetown accounts for about 44% of the country's building stock; 24%
Landslide 0.90 1.50 of the 2.5 million Sierra Leoneans moderately exposed to landslide risk
live in the Western Area—according to HARPIS-SL (n.d.) landslide risk
assessment).
Windstorm 0.50 1.50 Similar magnitude as landslides.
Similar magnitude as landslides, based on comparison of limited
Fire 0.70 1.00
historical events.
Total Natural
5.70 10.00
Perils Asset Losses
6 This corresponds to the average of the cost of response excluding epidemics. The report also calculates the annual average cost
of response through a Monte Carlo simulation, including the cost of epidemics, at $50 million. However, there are several
limitations of this estimation driven by scarce available data on losses from past disasters, including the fact that this estimate
applies a once every year return period to the costs associated with the devastating 2017 landslide event. Available data and
reports on losses and response costs are fragmented, and historic data might not cover all the relevant costs, thus uncertainties
remain. For example, government contributions to a specific disaster response may rather reflect available forthcoming funding,
and not the actual scale or impact of the emergency.
6
Epidemics Based on the government’s own contribution ($48 million) to fight
(Government — 1.90* Ebola and assuming a return period of 25 years for these response
Response) costs.
Low estimate: average cost of years 2010–2019 excluding years of
Humanitarian
9.00 15.00 Ebola (2014–2016). High estimate: average cost of years 2010–2019,
Assistance
adjusting a return period for Ebola in 2014 (25y RP).
Total Response
9.00 16.90
Costs
Note: * = This estimation corresponds to an Ebola-like event only. As shown by the COVID-19 pandemic, these
costs can be significantly larger if widespread diseases hit the country in the future. For instance, the Quick Action
Economic Response Programme of the Government of Sierra Leone, released on May 2020, estimated potential
costs of response at about $380 million under an adverse scenario of the evolution of the COVID pandemic.
Source: Authors’ own calculations and estimations based on data from World Bank (2017, 2018b), UNDRR (2017),
Government of Sierra Leone (2015), So & Rajput (2020, Ministry of Finance raw data), HARPIS-SL. (n.d.) and OCHA
(2020).
2. Assessing Changes on Future Disaster and Climate-Related Risk
Climate Change and Projected Hazard Patterns
Temperature projections from CMIP5 data, available on the World Bank Climate Change Knowledge
Portal, are quite consistent, with all models projecting relatively uniform increases over the country
(World Bank, n.d.). Projections that characterize increase in temperature use the reference period 1986–
2005. This consistency makes them useful to get a sense of how the situation might worsen.
In the RCP 4.5 scenario, for the period 2040–2059 (which would correspond to the life expectancy of some
power infrastructure, for instance), monthly maximum temperature is expected to increase relatively
uniformly throughout the year, with the ensemble median projection a little above 1°C, but the 90 th
percentile above 2°C for half of the year. In the RCP 8.5, the situation is a little more extreme but stays in
these ranges, while values skyrocket for this scenario in later decades. The number of very hot days
increases by 1.5 according to the ensemble mean, more than 8 days for the 90th percentile for 2040–2059.
In the RCP 8.5, this latest value reaches 18 days.
Precipitation projections are less consistent, with slight increases projected by the ensemble median. To
dig deeper into how future climate might impact hazards and risk in Sierra Leone, it is critical to
understand which models reproduce best the features of the WAM and teleconnections that play a role
in triggering extreme climate events. A discussion on this subject is presented in Annex 2.
Building Assets Exposed to Coastal Erosion
The multicity hazard and risk assessment projected coastline erosion in Freetown by 2050, by estimating
historical coastline recession rates—derived by examining historical satellite imagery—, and extrapolating
this rate inland under different assumptions (for instance, Figure 6 shows the coastline in 1969, 2006, and
2017 in northeast Freetown).7 These estimates were then superimposed with information of current
7The coastlines in the satellite images and historical maps were digitized and converted to points at 50-meter intervals, which
would be the interval at which the recession rates would be calculated. A perpendicular line was then extrapolated seaward from
each point along the current coastline to find where this line intersects the historical coastlines. The distance between the point
at the current coastline and the intersection coordinate at the historical coastline could then be calculated. Rate of cliff recession
7
buildings and infrastructure to quantify the value of assets that would be lost by 2050 as a consequence
of urban development, sand mining, and environmental degradation occurring in areas of high coastal
erosion hazard.
Figure 6. Historical coastlines in northeast Freetown
Note: Satellite images taken in 2017 of northeast Freetown. The green line
represents the 2017 coastline, the orange line represents the 2006
coastline, and the blue line shows the 1969 coastline, derived from satellite
images and historical maps.
Source: DigitalGlobe and NES/Airbus. Reproduced from World Bank
(2018b).
Although significant limitations of this approach exist, the results suggest that assets exposed to coastal
erosion in Freetown are concentrated along the southwestern and northern coastlines of Freetown.8 In
terms of building assets at risk, the main wards exposed include Hamilton, Goderich, Aberdeen, Murray
Town, Kingtom, Cannaught Hospital, and Cline Town, each of which would see asset damages of more
than $5 million under the projected average 2050 coastline scenario. Buildings at risk from coastal erosion
(under projected conditions for 2050) have been valued at $131 million (1.4% of exposed assets in
Freetown as modelled by the risk assessment), with an upper estimate of $261 million (2.8%), or about
$4 million annually. Figure 7 reveals that most of the assets that are exposed to coastline erosion are
formal residential (72.6% of exposed assets) and industrial buildings (21.6%).
was then obtained by dividing the distance by the time difference to get an estimated rate at 50-meter intervals in meters per
year. This rate was then extrapolated under different assumptions to 2050 to project the future coastline (World Bank, 2018).
8 For instance, newly built structures, such as docks and ports, should slow down the rate of recession markedly and have not
been considered, nor any future mitigation works. See World Bank (2018) for detailed results and limitations.
8
Figure 7. Value of Buildings in Areas Exposed to Coastline Erosion by 2050 in Freetown
Utility facilities Average estimate
Government facilities Upper estimate
Informal residential buildings
Educational facilities
Healthcare facilities
Industrial buildings
Formal residential buildings
- 50 100 150 200
Millions
Source: Authors with data from World Bank (2018b).
Urbanization Trends
In recent years, Sierra Leone’s urban population has grown at a slower pace than regional peers and the
regional average (Figure 8), although population projections show that urban population will more than
double by 2050, with about 8 million people living in urban areas (Figure 9). Urban population is primarily
located in the capital Freetown, with about 1.1 million inhabitants that are expected to become 1.8 million
by 2035. Kenema is the second largest city but has less than a fifth the population of Freetown showcasing
the concentration of the population in the capital city and its surrounding areas.
Figure 8. Urban Population Growth (2009–2018) Figure 9. Projected Urbanization in Sierra Leone
9 Population residing in urban areas (%)
100%
8 Urban population (million)
80%
Urban population (million)
7
Urbanization (%)
6
60%
5
4
40%
3
2 20%
1
0 0%
1950 1970 1990 2010 2030 2050
Source: Authors with data from UN DESA. Source: Authors with data from UN DESA.
The concentration of population in Freetown has led to settlements growing in steeper areas of the city
in recent years, which are more exposed to landslide events as the susceptibility to suffer from these
events is higher (Figure 10 and Figure 11). Uncontrolled urban expansion and the lack of affordable
housing has also led to inefficient land allocation in Freetown, characterized by the proliferation of slums
near the city center, largely concentrated in flood plains and next to waste dumps. This results in the
poorest and vulnerable people of the city being exposed to regular flooding during the rainy season in
overcrowded coastal areas. This also entails significant health risks, when flooding is combined with solid
and liquid waste issues (World Bank, 2018a).
9
Figure 10. Urbanization in Freetown (1985–2015)
Source: Authors with data from DLR and ARUP.
Figure 11. Building Exposure in Areas Susceptible to Landslides in Freetown (1985–2015)
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
Low Medium High
Note: The figure presents the evolution of the percentage of building exposure (originally
measured in $) by landslide susceptibility class. The share of building assets located in areas of
medium and high landslide susceptibility has experienced a relevant increase since 2000.
Source: Authors with data from DLR and ARUP.
10
A Building Exposure Model for Sierra Leone
The building stock for 2020 has been estimated at $10.1 billion (approximately 2.5 times the 2019 GDP),
of which $6.7 billion correspond to residential buildings, and $3.4 billion correspond to non-residential
buildings. The World Bank’s Disaster-Resilience Analytics & Solutions team developed a building exposure
model for Sierra Leone with information on the replacement cost of the residential and non-residential
building stock at high resolution.9 The results show that the building assets are concentrated in the
Western Area Urban district, followed by the districts of Western Area Rural, Kenema, and Bombali (Figure
12Error! Reference source not found.).
Figure 12. Distribution of Building Stock by District
Source: Authors with data from the 2004 and 2015 censuses.
As part of the residential building exposure component, the distributions of households by dwelling type,
wall, roof cover, and floor material were examined. Regarding the wall material, most households in Sierra
Leone reside in houses with outer walls made of either cement blocks (25%), mud bricks (43%), or mud
and wattle (15%). The differentiation of households by roof cover material was insignificant as 82% of
them are made of zinc. From a flood vulnerability perspective, the construction material of floors and
walls are considered most crucial.10 44% of households in Sierra Leone reside in houses with cement
9
The exposure considers only “buildings�? and not “building contents�? and are available at the enumeration area for the
residential building component and at the chiefdom level for the non-residential building component. The analysis was based on
the full microdata set of the 2015 National Population and Housing census carried out in December 2015 as well as on a microdata
subset, derived from the 2004 Population and Housing census representing 10% of the original census survey (about 500,000
person records and 85,000 household records).
10
In addition, the number of floors is an important attribute but, unfortunately, it was only captured in the 2004 census (97% of
the households lived in single-story houses).
11
floors, whereas 46% reside in houses with mud floors. Based on information on wall and floor material
available, a residential building typology schema from a flood vulnerability perspective was proposed,
consisting of 14 structural classes, summarized at district level on Figure 13Error! Reference source not
found..11
Figure 13. Residential Buildings Floor Area (m2) Distribution by Typology (Wall/Floor Material)
Western Urban Cement Blocks/Tiles
Western Rural
Cement
Tonkolili
Blocks/Cement
Pujehun Clay Bricks/Cement
Port Loko
Moyamba Mud Bricks/Cement
Kono
Mud & Wattle/Mud
Koinadugu
Kenema Zinc/Cement
Kambia
Kailahun Clay Bricks/Mud
Bonthe
Mud Bricks/Mud
Bombali
Bo Other/Other
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Note: 5 typology classes are summarized in the ‘Other/Other’ typology.
Source: Authors with data from the 2004 and 2015 censuses.
Results reveal that in addition to accounting for a large share of the total building assets, the Western
Area Urban and Western Area Rural districts also concentrate a large amount of cement block wall houses.
The rest of the districts exhibit a larger share of constructions made of mud bricks walls and mud floors.
A comparison in the proportion of structural typologies between 2004 and 2015 shows that poor quality
walls (for example, mud and wattle, zinc) or floor (for example, mud) materials are gradually being
replaced with better quality materials such as cement blocks or clay brick walls and cement floors,
respectively (Figure 16Error! Reference source not found.).
11
An additional class was proposed of houses made of concrete block walls and concrete roof (1.7% of total households), as they
are considered to be either reinforced masonry or reinforced concrete frame structures, by far the most flood-resistant structures
with higher unit cost of construction when compared with the other typologies.
12
Figure 14. Households’ Distribution by Structural Typology in 2004 and 2015 in Sierra Leone
Cement Blocks/Tiles 2004
Cement Blocks/Cement 2015
Clay Bricks/Cement
Mud Bricks/Cement
Mud & Wattle/Cement
Mud & Wattle/Mud
Zinc/Cement
Cement Blocks/Mud
Clay Bricks/Mud
Zinc/Mud
Mud Bricks/Mud
Mud Bricks/Wood
Other/Other
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
Source: Authors with data from the 2004 and 2015 censuses.
The non-residential building component of the exposure model was derived from labor statistics available
in the 2015 population and housing census. The model provides five different non-residential building-
use types, for which built floor areas per employee (m2) and unit costs of constructions were estimated
(US$/m2).12 The distribution of non-residential building exposure is presented in Figure 15. Spatially, the
exposure is concentrated in the main urban centers.
12The labor data give the number of people aged 10 and over that were employed in 24 economic sectors. From this detailed
categorization, the data were aggregated into five broad non-residential building-use types: Industrial; Offices (including Public
Administration and Hotels); Critical Buildings (including Educational, Health, Worship, Culture, Utilities, etc.); Retail (including
Restaurants); and Warehouse (including Commercial and Agricultural warehouses).
13
Figure 15. Distribution of Non-Residential Building Exposure by Chiefdom and Building-Use Type in 2020
Non-
Employed
Residential
Use Class Population
Exposure
(%)
(US$, %)
Warehouse 63.4% 29.8%
Industrial
7.2% 18.5%
building
Office
8.7% 15.2%
building
Retail
16.7% 24.0%
building
Critical
3.6% 12.4%
building
Source: Authors with data from the 2004 and 2015 censuses.
The evolution of built-up surface over time in the different districts of the country was assessed through
two additional datasets—the World Settlement Footprint Evolution (1985–2015) dataset from the
German Aerospace Agency, and Digital Globe’s Building Footprint dataset. The results, presented in Figure
16,Error! Reference source not found. show that in addition to the Western Urban district, the Western
Rural district (primarily Waterloo) and Bo have experienced a significant increase in built-up surface since
2000. Built-up surface in the Western Rural district has grown at a 3.5% rate annually between 2000 and
2015, reaching levels of built surface comparable to those of the Western Urban District.
Although there was a large increase in built-up surface in the Western Rural District since 2000, the
concentration of the economic value of the building stock in the Western Urban District, as well as its
distinct building typology distribution, point at higher replacement costs of building assets in the Western
Urban district (estimated at $149/m2), when compared to the Western Rural District ($113/m2) and the
national average ($96/m2).
14
Figure 16. Evolution of Built-up Exposure (in km2) by District (1985–2015)
16
Western Urban
14 Western Rural
12
Built-up area (Km2)
10
Bo
8
Port Loko
Kenema
6 Kono
Tonkolili
Kailahun
4 Kambia
Koinadugu
Moyamba
2 Pujehun
Bonthe
0
1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
Source: Authors with data from DLR, and DigitalGlobe.
3. Macroeconomic Impact of Disasters
Following a brief context of Sierra Leone’s economy and macroeconomic outlook, this subsection
discusses the impact that fast onset adverse natural events—floods and landslides—can have on Sierra
Leone’s economy, as well as the mechanisms through which large public health-related events can affect
Sierra Leone, with a focus on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Country Context
After the 11-year-long civil war, Sierra Leone achieved strong economic growth that peaked at 20.7% in
2013, resulting from resumption in iron ore production combined with government investment in
infrastructure as well as the development of the agriculture, tourism, and services sectors. This impressive
growth period was disrupted by both an unprecedented decline in international iron ore prices starting in
late 2013, and the outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease in 2014, together culminating in GDP contraction of
21.1% in 2015 (AFDB, 2017). After a recovery process driven by the agriculture and construction sectors,
and iron ore production and export in 2018 and 2019, Sierra Leone’s economic activity has suffered from
the impact of an unprecedent pandemic in 2020.
Sierra Leone’s economic activity is largely dependent on agriculture—including forestry, fishing, and
hunting—with the sector employing more than half of the country’s formal and informal workforce and
accounting for about half of GDP (World Bank, 2018c). However, despite employing only 1.5% of the
workforce, the mining sector also plays an important role in Sierra Leone’s economy, accounting for about
14% of the GDP, with mineral products and precious metals accounting for more than half of the country’s
exports (OEC, n.d.). Sierra Leone is essentially a supply-constrained monocultural economy depending on
a few commodities for output and export (AfDB, 2017). This dependence on extractive activities has made
Sierra Leone particularly vulnerable to exogenous shocks.
15
Table 2. Sierra Leone Macroeconomic Outlook
2017 2018 2019 2020 e 2021 f 2022 f
Real GDP growth, at constant market prices 3.8 3.5 5.4 -3.1 2.7 4.2
Private Consumption -0.4 -7.0 2.7 4.0 9.0 10.5
Government Consumption -4.8 -1.3 2.7 58.3 -11.8 9.5
Gross Fixed Capital Investment 16.2 63.4 9.0 -28.4 18.8 3.1
Exports, Goods, and Services 23.3 -34.9 19.2 -4.2 3.0 19.7
Imports, Goods, and Services 6.3 -11.5 8.1 5.4 15.8 18.6
Real GDP growth, at constant factor prices 3.7 3.4 5.2 -3.1 2.7 4.2
Agriculture 4.5 3.9 5.6 3.1 3.6 3.9
Industry -5.3 -2.5 10.2 1.1 7.1 4.6
Services 5.3 4.3 3.2 -13.1 -0.3 4.6
Inflation (Consumer Price Index) 18.2 16.0 14.8 15.6 12.8 10.2
Current Account Balance (% of GDP) -21.1 -18.8 -14.0 -15.5 -14.3 -12.0
Fiscal Balance (% of GDP) -8.8 -5.9 -2.8 -5.8 -6.3 -4.2
Debt (% of GDP) 57.8 60.5 71.7 79.4 82.1 78.7
Primary Balance (% of GDP) -6.6 -4.7 -1.4 0.4 1.0 3.0
Note: e = estimate, f = forecast. Annual percent change unless indicated otherwise.
Source: World Bank, Poverty & Equity and Macroeconomics, Trade & Investment Global Practices.
Macroeconomic Impact of Adverse Natural Events
Historical data is scarce concerning past adverse natural events and their impact on Sierra Leone, and
there is only limited information on the mechanisms through which disasters can affect the country’s
economy. In general, the risk profile of the country suggests that fast-onset events are usually localized,
and their effects constrained in time, which reduces the potential for a large negative macroeconomic
impact.
The largest recent event experienced in Sierra Leone is the Freetown floods and landslide of August 2017,
which affected about 6,000 people, killed 1,141 people, and caused an estimated $16.8 million in damages
and $14.9 million in losses. Since the event was circumscribed to a few communities, it is estimated that
the impact on economic growth and the overall economic activity was negligible. However, the need to
mobilize immediate funds for disaster recovery and response put pressure on the government, which had
limited fiscal space to respond to the event as the domestic borrowing requirement had almost reached
its limit (2% of GDP), while payment arrears to suppliers and contractors continued to accrue. Although
fiscal authorities had earmarked $6.4 million for contingencies, hardly any funding was available when
the disaster struck on August 14, 2017 (World Bank, 2017).
In this setting, the Office of National Security (including the military and the police) and the Ministries of
Health, Energy, Education, and Water Resources implemented extrabudgetary spending to respond to the
disaster. The August 14 events significantly impacted budget implementation, with adverse impacts on
revenue mobilization estimated to have exacerbated the problems. Overall, the fiscal deficit was expected
to have widened in 2017, largely because of expenditure overruns in response to the disaster. The World
Bank approved an IDA grant of $10 million to support Sierra Leone in its efforts to recover from the
disaster in Freetown through the Freetown Emergency Recovery Project (P166075).
16
Macroeconomic Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Macroeconomic Situation in 202013
Following a rebound in economic activity from 3.5% in 2018 to 5.4% in 2019 driven by agriculture and
construction as well as the resumption of iron ore production and exports, it is estimated that Sierra
Leone’s economy contracted by 3.1% in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a sharp contraction in the
services sector activity, reflecting the suspension of international flights, closure of land borders, and
business closures, especially in the hospitality sector. Growth in agriculture was estimated to slow with
disruptions both in labor supply due to the lockdown and in delivery of key inputs such as seeds and
fertilizers. It is estimated that headline inflation reached 15.6% by the end of 2020 from 14.8% in 2019,
reflecting food supply constraints as lockdowns and border closures disrupted domestic and international
food supply chains. Food inflation (year-on-year), which had declined to 5.4% by end-December 2019,
reached 17.3% at end-July 2020. Contrastingly, nonfood inflation declined from 21.1% to 10.2% at end-
July 2020, reflecting lower prices for transportation, hotels and restaurant, and goods and services.
The Leone depreciated by 5.1% against the US dollar in the first half of 2020, reflecting lower-than-
expected export receipts, while the current account deficit is expected to have increased to 15.5% of GDP
in 2020 from 14.0% in 2019, due largely to the widening of the trade deficit as exports fell while imports
increased. Total expenditure is estimated to have increased to 26.1% of GDP from 20.6% of GDP in 2019,
with increased spending to implement public health measures and mitigate the impact of the crisis on
households and businesses. The overall fiscal deficit is estimated to have increased to 5.8% of GDP
compared to an original projection of 3.3% of GDP. Total public debt is estimated at 79.4% of GDP in 2020
(up from 71.7% in 2019), largely reflecting the larger fiscal deficit.
Sierra Leone’s Economy in the Context of a Pandemic14
An assessment was conducted by Monasterolo et al. (2020) to isolate the effects of COVID-19 on the
dynamics of the real economy and public finance of Sierra Leone using the EIRIN Stock-Flow Consistent
and Agent-Based Models. The COVID-19 shock was modelled and its impact on the economy was
benchmarked against a business-as-usual baseline scenario, with the results reported in Table 3. In a
scenario characterized by a worldwide impact of COVID-19 and lockdown measures, Sierra Leone
experiences a negative economic impact mainly through shocks on exports (for instance, titanium ore,
diamond, and aluminum ore), remittances, and—to a lesser extent—international tourism, affecting the
services and industry sectors. COVID-19 also impacts domestic demand due to lockdown measures in the
second quarter of 2020. The combination of domestic and external demand reduces real GDP in April and
May 2020, and leads to a drop on aggregate supply due to the decrease in firms’ sales expectations. In
the following two months, the GDP downturn slows down and even reverts to a slight increase due to the
support of the IMF (early June) and the World Bank (mid-July) (IMF, n.d.).
13 The source of the values presented in this subsection is World Bank (2020).
14 The source of this subsection is Monasterolo et al. (2020).
17
Table 3. Evolution of Macroeconomic Variables as modelled in the COVID-19 Scenario
Variable Jan 2020 Jun 2020 Dec 2020 Jun 2021 Dec 2021 Jun 2022 Dec 2022
Real GDP 100 96.6 94.6 96 94.5 92.5 91.2
Inflation Rate 100 93 94 97 95 95 93
Unemployment 100 114 162 193 222 236 236
Nominal Wage Growth Rate 100 99.7 97.2 95.8 94.4 93.5 93.5
Public Debt to GDP Ratio 100 102.8 107.6 106.3 108 110.5 113.4
Export to GDP Ratio 100 81 75 94 95.5 97.3 98.5
Aggregate Demand 100 92.7 91.8 94.4 93.1 91.6 90.5
Aggregate Supply 100 100 97.2 95 93.4 91.6 91
Note: Values relative to the base period (January 2020 = 100).
Source: Monasterolo et al. (2020).
The model shows that the external demand shock lasts for the whole year of 2020 and the increase in
unemployment keeps wages lower with respect to the baseline scenario, reducing demand and in turn
reducing investment, especially in the Industry and Service sector, and not allowing GDP to catch up to
the baseline scenario. A slight recovery occurs in early 2021, led by the recovery of external demand.
However, after the said recovery, the shock on GDP worsens as firms revise their economic expectations
downwards, thus inducing a long-lasting negative effect on real GDP in response to self-reinforcing supply-
demand effects. Unemployment increases persistently, even after the recovery of external demand due
to the demand-supply effect that exacerbates the economic downturn and does not allow unemployment
to decrease, and instead doubles in 2021 with respect to the baseline scenario. Linked to high
unemployment rates, nominal wages decrease following a Phillips curve-like effect.
Following the COVID-19 shock, in 2020 inflation stabilizes at a lower level with respect to the baseline
scenario, mainly led by the decrease in nominal wage in response to high employment and lower
economic activity. The pandemic has a negative impact on debt to GDP ratio due to lower GDP and higher
debt issuance because of reduced government revenues from taxes. A drop in debt to GDP ratio in July
and August 2020 is caused by the intervention of international institutions, whose support allows to
increase GDP level without immediately increasing the domestic debt issuance. However, the beneficial
effects last until the support is active, while in the following months the debt to GDP ratio keeps increasing
due to the worsening of economic activity. COVID-19 also leads to a large drop in export to GDP ratio
lasting from April to December 2020.
4. Institutional Setting for Disaster Risk Management
The Disaster Management Department and the National Disaster Management Agency
In Sierra Leone, the responsibility for coordinating disaster risk management had historically laid with the
Office of National Security—ONS (GoSL, 2002). The ONS was established in 2002 by the National Security
and Central Intelligence Act (NSCIA, 2002; Part V). To strengthen disaster risk management capacities and
set up processes and structures that allow for an integrated and effective response, a Disaster
Management Department (DMD) within the ONS was created in 2004.
Mandated by the NSCIA 2002, the DMD held the central responsibility for coordinating and managing
national emergencies and both natural and man-made disasters (GoSL, 2006a). Thereby, within the UN
18
Hyogo and Sendai framework, DMD endorsed a holistic approach to risk management including risk
identification and assessment, prevention, preparedness, and response. Besides coordination, which
includes different stakeholders at various levels15, DMD was assigned to promote the integration of
disaster risk management into sustainable development programs and develop studies, policies, plans,
and commissions to support the national disaster management systems (GoSL, 2006a). These included
the Disaster Management Policy of 2006 (GoSL, 2006a), the National Disaster Management Preparedness
Plan (GoSL, 2006b), and a National Hazard Assessment.
To further strengthen governmental response capacities as well as the capacity of communities to
respond to emergencies, in June 2020 the Parliament approved the National Disaster Management
Agency (NDMA) Act (GoSL, 2020) which sets out the institutional architecture to manage disasters and
emergencies from the national to the chiefdom level. Besides the NDMA, the Act establishes a
multisectoral body called the National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, chaired by the Vice President,
and comprised of 33 representatives from ministries, departments, agencies, and civil society.16 The
Platform has the primary responsibility for the coordination and management of national disasters.
Besides the establishment of the Agency and Platform, the Bill further elaborates on regional and district
coordination, on the declaration of state of emergencies (see Annex 1), and enacts the establishment of
a National Disaster Management Fund. The NDMA was officially launched on 19 November 2020 by the
President of Sierra Leone (State House Media and Communications Unit, 2020).
To support the government on the implementation of these new institutional structures, the World Bank
conducted in 2019 a Capacity Needs Assessment for Emergency Preparedness and Response (World Bank,
2019) which discusses in detail the institutional establishment and recommended capacity needs of a fully
functional National Disaster Management Agency and Emergency Operations Center for Sierra Leone.
Early Warning Systems
An efficient Multi-Hazard Early Warning System involves different institutional stakeholders, and actively
engages the civil society and communities in the disaster preparedness and response process. In Sierra
Leone, the ongoing institutional reforms as part of the recently approved NDMA Act constitute an
opportunity to strengthen the coordination for an Early Warning System capable of promptly gathering,
processing, and communicating disaster information to local stakeholders and vulnerable communities.
Key stakeholders involved in Early Warning in Sierra Leone are presented in Table 4 (World Bank, 2019).
It is expected that the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) within the NDMA will play a critical role in
establishing protocols and procedures for the coordination of these actors as part of a the soon-to-be-
developed National Disaster Management Information Communication System (NDMICS; World Bank,
2019).
15 Including the Ministry of Transport & Aviation, Ministry of Water Resources, the National Meteorological agency, Red Cross,
Provincial/District/Chiefdom Security Coordinators, among others.
16 Including the Attorney-General, the Mayor of Freetown, the Chief Social Service Officer, the Financial Secretary of the Ministry
of Finance, the Secretary General of Sierra Leone Red Cross, and two civil society representatives and a representative of the
Association of NGOs, among others.
19
Table 4. Early Warning Agencies and Interrelationships with NDMICS
Agency Role and Responsibility
- Monitor and forecast the weather conditions in the country for all socioeconomic activities
that require meteorological or climatology service.
- Develop government policy in the field of meteorology, climatology, climate change, and
other climate-related issues.
Sierra Leone - Promote the use of meteorology in agriculture, food monitoring, and in the monitoring of
Meteorological flood, drought, desertification, and other related activities.
Agency - Establish, organize, and manage surface and upper air observational station networks. 17
- Provide meteorological information, advice, and warnings for agriculture, civil and military
aviation, surface and marine transport, operational hydrology, management of energy and
water resources, and search and rescue operations to mitigate the effects of adverse
natural events such as floods, storms, droughts, and disease outbreaks.
Ministry of - Monitor and manage disease outbreaks, with a focus on highly contagious and fatal
Health diseases that have a potential of developing into epidemics.
Ministry of
Agriculture - Monitor and manage pest outbreaks for crop and animal husbandry.
and Forestry
Environmental
- Provide information on environment and forestry disaster situations like excessive pollution
Protection
and fire outbreaks.
Agency
Government - Provide information on the number of beds, nurses, and doctors available for emergency
Hospitals response in disaster situations.
Source: World Bank (2019) and Government of Sierra Leone (2017).
5. Financing Disaster and Climate-Related Risks
Historically, the government of Sierra Leone has shown limited capacity to finance disaster response and
recovery, and has had to rely on international partners and donors. Recognizing the need to strengthen
disaster preparedness and response systems, the government is taking actions to improve its disaster risk
management institutional framework and is committed to further build up its disaster financing
capacities. The following section includes inputs from a study that has been recently finalized to provide
inputs for advancing financial planning for disasters and recommendations to build a risk financing
strategy.18
Ex-ante Risk Financing Instruments
In the past, Sierra Leone has rather been reactive and made use of post-disaster financing solutions with
a relatively high dependency on, and long history of, international aid to respond to emergencies.
However, this is changing, and the government seems to engage in developing ex-ante financing
17 Only a handful of weather stations are currently reporting data for use by scholars and international organizations. Thus,
gridded datasets based on satellite data, reanalysis (in other words, modeled data constrained by observations), and/or data
from stations located in neighboring countries (along with interpolation techniques) are often used to describe the current
climate.
18 So & Rajput (2020). Sierra Leone Crisis and Disaster Risk Financing Diagnostic. Unpublished World Bank Report.
20
instruments such as a national disaster management fund and a potential contingent credit. Ex-ante DRF
instruments can help governments to respond to different types of disasters in a timely manner. This
section elaborates on how the GoSL uses different ex-ante financing arrangements and instruments to
plan for disaster reduction and response.
Budget Provisions and Reserves
With respect to the financing of the DRM architecture as well as risk reduction and response, the Ministry
of Finance prepares a budget which is approved by Parliament. The summary of the FY2020 enacted
budget highlights adverse natural events and epidemics as a prominent fiscal and economic risk and
contingent liability (MoF, 2020, p.20–22). Budget allocations to DRM fall under cluster 7 of the Poverty
Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) IV clusters (Cluster 7: “Addressing vulnerabilities and building resilience�?)
which includes spending for Environment, Climate Change, and Disaster Management. In FY 2019, $1.9
million or 1% of the Total Cluster Budget was allocated to this section (MoF, 2020). It seems that the
cluster budget as well as provisions for the ONS are rather intended for administrative and operational
purpose as well as potentially risk reduction measures. Any budgeted provisions for emergency response
and recovery financing seem to be under different items.
The existing budgetary instruments to finance post-disaster expenditures are not explicitly stated in the
government accounts and funds are not specifically earmarked. Looking at past expenditures and
comparing current FY2020 allocations with indicative provisions for FY2021 and FY2022 —which may
consider measures to address the COVID-19 crisis—it seems that ‘reserves’ for unexpected events
(disasters, for instance) are budgeted under the Contingency Expenditure tag—and there mainly under
the Contingencies Fund.
The Public Financial Management Act 2016 (GoSL, 2016b) under section 36 states that the Contingencies
Fund’s provisions and actual aggregate expenditures per financial year under the regular budget (in other
words, main estimates) shall not exceed 2% of Non-Extractive Industries Revenue (Non-EIR). 2% of non-
EIR in the 2020 main estimates amounts to approximately $12 million.19 Past actual expenditures under
the Contingencies Fund in FY2016 amounted to approximately $7 million, and approximately $1 million
in FY2018 (MoF, 2018). The Ministry of Finance (2020) estimates contingency reserves in the indicative
budget for FY2021 and FY2022 to be around $5 million and $4.5 million respectively (or 0.1% of GDP).
Further contingent budget instruments that might also be used to finance needs during emergencies are
the Special Warrants of the President (PFM Act 2016, section 38) and an unallocated head of expenditure
set aside in the Consolidated Fund20 (PFM Act 2016, section 39). Both items may not exceed 1% of the
Non-EIR in the main estimate per financial year each.
Contingent funds are intended to cover the costs and needs arising from rather frequent events with
limited impacts. Such funds however have opportunity costs as resources cannot be spent as capital
expenditure or in development programs, thus their provisions are typically rather moderate. Based on
19 Source: MoF 2020, p. 37: non-EIR of approximately $620 million (that is, total domestic revenues of 640m—about 19.4m of
EIR).
20 Consolidated Fund (as per section 111 of the Constitution) consists of all revenues raised by government (in other words,
directly, received as trust or under bi-/multilateral agreements) except for money set aside for other funds and purposes under
an Act of Parliament.
21
available data on the costs associated with the response to historic natural catastrophes in Sierra Leone,
the current emergency provisions seem insufficient.
Furthermore, poverty-related budget provisions to the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA),
which often partially originate from donor funding, seem to be used to provide relief in the aftermath of
a natural catastrophe. One example is the Sierra Leone Social Safety Nets Project which is expected to
have a budget of about $3.3 million (that is, $2.9 million from foreign sources) in 2021 (MoF, 2020).
Domestic capital expenditures to NaCSA amounted to approximately $1.4 million in 2020.
National Disaster Management Fund
The National Disaster Management Agency Act 2020 mandates the establishment of a national disaster
management fund which will receive contributions from (a) monies appropriated for the Agency by
Parliament; (b) grants, donations, and other voluntary contributions to the Fund; and (c) other monies
that may in any manner become lawfully payable to the Agency. The Disaster Management Policy 2006
already set the establishment of an emergency preparedness fund as a key strategic objective and
envisaged an earmarked disaster provision in the national budget which could be accessed in the
aftermath of an adverse natural event. According to a 2012 Cordaid report, such a fund was to be created
in 2011 by the ONS. The fund was intended to finance reconstruction and rehabilitation, and could
receive/access different sources of funding.
Contingent Credit
Sierra Leone does not currently have a contingent credit line, but is in discussions with the World Bank
about a potential Development Policy Credit with a Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option (Cat DDO).
This would allow the government to quickly access financial resources in an event of significant emergency
where a predefined soft trigger condition (usually the declaration of state of emergency due to a natural
catastrophe or health-related event) is met. In case of an appropriate macroeconomic framework and
fulfilled prior actions—often related to institutional or policy reforms—Sierra Leone could access a
maximum Cat DDO of about $20 million (corresponding to 0.5% of Sierra Leone’s GDP).
Sovereign Insurance and the Insurance Sector in Sierra Leone
Through sovereign insurance and sovereign risk pools, countries can transfer part of their risk, liabilities,
and actual financial burden of disaster response and access rapid liquidity in the event of a sufficiently
large and severe insured event. Terms of insurance, including the price, are defined through the insurance
policy. For example, the African Risk Capacity (ARC) is a risk pool which offers governments insurance
coverage for significant drought, extreme weather (Extreme Climate Facility), outbreaks and epidemics
(O&E), and soon, flooding, and tropical cyclones as well.
Sierra Leone is a Member State of ARC but at present not (actively) buying any of these insurance
products. With respect to pandemics and health emergencies related to specific diseases, as an IDA
country Sierra Leone may access (limited) funds through the Pandemic Emergency Facility (PEF)
established by World Bank given the predefined trigger conditions are met. Furthermore, other
institutions and large private reinsurers may offer tailor-made sovereign solutions as well. In case Sierra
Leone buys this insurance, the country should thoroughly assess their need and financing capacity in order
to find an efficient and affordable insurance solution. Such insurance would normally cover high severity
and low frequency events (above a certain threshold or attachment point). The premiums would be paid
22
out of national budget (for example by the Ministry of Finance/Treasury) and potential payouts would be
received as budget support.
The Insurance Market and Insurance Regulation in Sierra Leone
The insurance market in Sierra Leone is still underdeveloped and inadequately regulated (Business Wire,
2017). Despite some growth driven by mining industry, construction and agriculture, Sierra Leone is still
struggling with the effects of the Ebola crisis and a drop in international iron ore prices. Growth in these
sectors has increased the demand for certain insurance products and services in the past (for instance,
employer liability, life insurance). The insurance penetration rate—in other words, the ratio of premiums
underwritten in one year over the GDP which reflects the relative size of the insurance market—has been
consistently low.21 We know from different sources that there are seven to nine insurance companies and
six brokers licensed in Sierra Leone, as well as one State-owned reinsurer (Actuarial Post, n.d.). Besides
low penetration and rising unemployment, the major challenge and concern of the industry is the weak
regulatory framework and missing alignment with international best practice.22 The low penetration rate
of the insurance market leaves the government with large implicit fiscal exposure.
The Sierra Leone Insurance Commission (SLICOM)—established by the Insurance Act of 2000 (GoSL, 2000)
and inaugurated in 2013 —is responsible for the supervision, monitoring, and licensing of insurance actors
(that is, companies, brokers, loss adjusters), but has limited resources and capacities to fulfill their
mandate adequately (Actuarial Post, n.d.).23 Furthermore, the industry does not provide SLICOM with
adequate data on its financial condition. The insurance market in Sierra Leone is regulated by the new
Insurance Act of 2016 (GoSL, 2016a) which aims to strengthen SLICOMs role.
Ex-post Financing Instruments and Arrangements
Sierra Leone is regularly using international support to respond to disasters and the Parliament may make
use of supplementary budget or budget reallocations to react to emergencies. Furthermore, the country
has a history of successfully implementing social safety nets which help households and individuals to
cope during emergencies and with the impact of disasters.
Donations and Humanitarian Assistance
The humanitarian sector and international aid play a crucial role in funding disaster and emergency
response in Sierra Leone with the Government largely relying on donations (i.e., cash or in-kind) for
immediate response and for recovery.24 As per National Disaster Preparedness Plan, only extreme events
(classified as level 3 disasters) would require international assistance but not emergencies at district (level
1) and national emergencies (level 2). In reality though, even minor events such as group fires often need
humanitarian assistance as financing is not available or the budget is not forthcoming (Sandford et al.,
2020). However, this source of finance is associated with unpredictability, large variability in volumes of
resources mobilized and provides little incentive for the government to take ownership and build up its
21 In other words, around 0.37% in 2016 according to Africa Re https://www.africa-re.com/dashboards/SL.
22 Neighboring francophone countries have common standards under CIMA (Conférence Interafricaine des Marchés
d’Assurances) which is a regional insurance oversight body with common rules and effective supervisory structures in 15
francophone countries.
23 In other words, shortage of professional staff, training, manuals and procedures, tools, and technology.
24 For examples and more detailed information of international response and assistance, see response reports to the 2014 Ebola
crisis (National Ebola Recovery Strategy, 2015) and 2017 Landslide (UN Recovery Bulletins, 2017 or UN Sierra Leone’s August 2017
Landslide and Floods early recovery and risk management action plan, 2017).
23
own capacities. According to data from UN OCHA (2020) the average annual humanitarian funding to
Sierra Leone from 2010 to 2020 amounts to about $79 million.25 Excluding the financing of the Ebola
response in 2014, which amounted to $712 million, the average annual contributions are about $16
million. Average annual contributions from the humanitarian sector seems to have declined compared to
the previous decade. Typically, such funding would be largely off-budget and managed by the
development partner itself or go directly to implementing agencies (for example, the Red Cross) or NGOs.
Budget Reallocations and Extraordinary Budget
Budget reallocations or requests for extraordinary or supplementary budget to deal with the impacts of
natural and health-related disasters are a common practice in many countries. In Sierra Leone, the Public
Financial Management Act 2016 (GoSL, 2016b) lays out the responsibilities of the Parliament, Cabinet, the
Ministry of Finance, and other institutions in the budget system and clarifies on conditions, processes, and
responsibilities for in-year-adjustments of the budget, including supplementary estimates (followed by a
Supplementary Appropriation Bill). The PMF Act 2016 in section 42 states, among others, that
supplementary estimates shall be approved by Parliament, cannot go before Parliament before 7 months
into the financial year and not more than twice per year (except for the accounts of the Contingencies
Fund, the Presidents Special Warrants or the unallocated heads of expenditure), and that budget
provisions may not be carried over unless the Ministry of Finance’s regulations prescribe it (PFM Act 2016,
section 45). The Public Financial Management Regulations 2018 (GoSL, 2018) further clarify that
supplementary estimates shall not increase the total State budget, except (i) in the case of a natural
disaster, epidemic, illness or unforeseen financial or economic crisis, or (ii) when this can be financed by
an increase in revenues other than domestic or external borrowing (PFM Regulations 2018, section 25(1)).
Moreover, the Regulations elaborate on the processes for unbudgeted expenditure and overspending
(section 30). A review by Overseas Development Institute (Welham & Hadley, 2016) of Sierra Leone’s
institutional arrangements with respect to public financial management indicated that, as of 2016, the
executive had informal power on budgetary issues (for example, on overspending allocations of the
unallocated funds) and that cash availability was a significant constraint to changes in budget.
Taxation
No significant indications or evidence of tax increases to finance response or recovery from adverse
natural events or other emergencies was found during this brief desk review. However, further
investigations might be needed to get clarity on this.
Shock Responsive Safety Nets
Experience suggests that safety nets including cash transfers can be an effective means to help households
or individuals cope with the economic impacts and access much needed services and goods during
emergencies such as adverse natural events and health crises (see Bown et al., 2020 and Sandford et al.,
2020). With a robust and functioning safety net system and infrastructure in place, such programs may
adapt rather flexibly to different kinds of shocks and adjust implementation modalities during
emergencies (for instance, expanding the number of beneficiaries, increasing transfers, adjustment of
target criteria and objectives, etc.). Such systems can also create incentives and enable governments to
take increasing financial and political ownership of crisis response.
25 As-if extrapolation of 2020 data (available from 1st May- 31st December 2020) to account for a full calendar year.
24
In Sierra Leone, shock-responsive social protection was successfully implemented after the Ebola Virus
Disease outbreak in 2014 and the 2017 landslides and floods where the systems were eventually also used
to direct and disburse humanitarian assistance from different partners (Sandford et al, 2020).
Subsequently, the government had pre-arranged $4 million in contingent finance for emergency cash
transfers as part of a World Bank project.26 These funds were used in relation to the government’s COVID-
19 response and released within three months after the systems were ready to respond (So et al., 2020).
Sierra Leone’s social safety net (“Ep Fet Po�?) program was launched in 2014 and is implemented by the
National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) as part of the country’s efforts to reduce poverty (Sandford
et al, 2020). With funding from the government and its development partners, the program reached about
60,000 households during its rapid Ebola response phase and currently under COVID-19 anticipates
assisting 70,000 poor and vulnerable households.
A national social protection policy has recently been prepared and is about to be approved by
Parliament.27 The policy establishes a National Social Protection Secretariat (currently under NaCSA),
defines measures to set up minimum protection packages and lays out institutional structures and
coordination mechanisms for advancing social protection. Stakeholders involved include the Ministry of
Labor and Social Security, the private sector, and international and national NGOs (Sandford et al, 2020).
Although there was successful collaboration between NaCSA28 and ONS in the response to the landslide
2017, “social protection�? is not yet a formal pillar of the governments emergency response system.
Despite the successful implementations and progress achieved in reforming social safety nets, further
strengthening and enabling of such systems is needed. Systematic planning and coordination (in other
words, among ministries but also with and within the international community) as well as prearranged,
steady funding is needed to advance the system and make it resilient (Sandford et al, 2020).
6. Impact of Disasters on Poverty and Inclusion
Relationship Between Fast-Onset Disasters and Poverty
Rapid onset events such as the landslide and floods experienced in recent years have had a large
detrimental impact on the well-being of the Sierra Leoneans affected. For the most recent landslide and
floods of 2017, over 3,000 people lost their homes; but only a third of the households in the affected areas
owned their own dwellings (the rest was mostly rented). Nonetheless, for many living in these areas,
housing also constituted a source of livelihood as two of the most common livelihoods are small-scale
traders and those working as carpenters or masons (World Bank, 2017). According to data from the
registration of affected households, more than two weeks after the event, two thirds of the affected
adults had still not returned to their normal economic activity.
Past floods have had a larger impact on poor households in Sierra Leone than the 2017 event, as the latter
was rather localized in space. During the 2015 rainy season, there was intensive flooding in some areas in
Freetown and the Western Rural Area, and more widespread flooding in the Pujehun and Bonthe Districts
26 The governments Ep Fet Po program was reformed into a shock-responsive safety net program which is supported by IDA and
GRIF Financing (under the Social Safety Net Project). The project frontloaded $26 million for assisting households to deal with the
COVID-19 crisis.
27 Status as of 2021 yet to be confirmed.
28 NaCSA’s efforts were implemented under the ‘Shelter’ pillar.
25
which affected more than 24,000 people (CRED, 2021). Following the floods, a comparison was made
between the people in the Western Area who had been affected by the event and those who had not.
Overall, those affected had lower quality housing, fewer durable goods, and higher levels of food
insecurity. The value of durable goods owned decreased by 23% and food insecurity increased by 0.65
points (on a scale from 0 to 8) in those households that had experienced flooding.29 Within Freetown,
however, the areas most affected by the 2015 floods were low-lying informal housing areas that were
likely significantly poorer than other parts of Freetown before the floods.
In the Western Area, poor households are often more exposed to floods and likely more susceptible to
suffer losses from such events. While poverty rates remain well below the rest of the country, Freetown
was the only area to experience a significant increase in poverty between 2003 and 2011, from 14% to
21%. The increase in poverty in Freetown was driven by rural-out migration, the slow creation of well-
paid jobs, and inflation. Poor households are typically pushed to hazard-prone areas (that is, steep land)
due to land ownership and market factors, but also have housing materials of poorer quality, and the
livelihood activities conducted by the majority are typically unsafe or less resilient to floods. The
relationship between disasters and poverty is bidirectional: the poor live in areas that are less desirable
due to the risk of flooding, and flooding makes the households poorer than they would be otherwise
(World Bank, 2017).
Food Insecurity in Sierra Leone
In Sierra Leone, a large part of the population has been chronically food insecure, at least since the Ebola
Virus Disease Epidemic in 2014. While in September30 2018 43.7% of the population was food insecure,
by August 2019 this figure reached 53%, with all districts of the country suffering to a considerable extent
from food insecurity (Figure 17). Food insecurity has remained high since the Ebola Virus Disease epidemic
that hit the country: the previous comparable food security data collection exercise dates back to
September 2015, when half of the population was food insecure (Comprehensive Food Security and
Vulnerability Analysis — CFSVA). Food insecurity has also been considerably high even in post-harvest
period (January – February) when access to and availability of food is supposedly higher. The food insecure
population reached 47.7% in February 2020, rising from 34% in February 2019. These figures point at the
prevalence of chronic food insecurity in Sierra Leone.
29
2015 Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Survey.
30
September corresponds to the end of the lean season when access to and availability of food is constrained by the peak of the
heavy rains and low local agricultural production levels.
26
Figure 17. Food Insecurity by District in August 2019
Western Urban
Port Loko
Bombali
Bo
Kenema
Tonkolili
Kailahun
Kono
Western Rural
Koinadugu
Kambia Food secure
Pujehun Marginally food secure
Moyamba Moderately food insecure
Bonthe Severely food insecure
0 200,000 400,000 600,000 800,000 1,000,000 1,200,000
Population
Source: Authors with data from WFP (2019).
Food insecurity is driven by multiple factors well beyond adverse drought events, as is the case in many
other countries of the region. Sierra Leone has a climate that brings considerable precipitation during the
rainy season from May to November. However, even if the overall precipitation over the rainy season
remains at normal levels, erratic rainfall patterns—including the late onset of the rainy season, unevenly
distributed rainfall throughout the season and flooding as happened in both 2018 and 2019 —can
negatively affect the already significantly low agricultural productivity levels, reducing yields, food
availability, and depleting household food stocks, with a detrimental impact on food security. Other
drivers of food insecurity listed in the 2015 CFSVA include shocks related to the Ebola Virus Disease, poor
market accessibility, lack of access to safe water, gender inequality, lack of education opportunities, and
lack of income generation diversification among farming households.
Rural people who rely on subsistence agriculture directly suffer from the effects of adverse weather
conditions, but economic shocks also determine food insecurity levels in urban areas. Food insecurity in
Sierra Leone has increased due to economic shocks—high inflation, increased food prices, and reduced
income generating opportunities—, particularly for urban dwellers who rely on wage labor opportunities
and market purchases to meet their food needs. In 2019, for instance, economic shocks were the main
driver of food insecurity, as the national currency depreciated by 10% compared to 2018 levels (CILSS,
2019; SWAC, 2020). In January 2020, the food security monitoring survey revealed that while food
insecurity was highest in rural districts, Sierra Leone experienced a sharp increase in the number of urban
residents living in food insecurity.
27
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30
Annex 1. A Disbursement Trigger for a Cat DDO
Summary
The article 29 of the constitution only allows for the declaration of a State of Public Emergency, or for the
declaration of a situation which, if it is allowed to continue, may lead to a State of Public Emergency. Other
DRM-related legislation—including the 2020 National Disaster Management Agency Act—refers to the
constitution for the declaration of such State of Public Emergency. For past disaster events, including Ebola
and COVID-19 pandemics, this has been the exceptional state issued in the country.
Proposed Trigger
It is proposed for the disbursement trigger to be the Declaration of a State of Public Emergency by the
President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, in accordance with Subsection 1 of Section 29 of the
Constitution of Sierra Leone, 1991, Act No. 6 of 1991.
Declaration of a State of Public Emergency
The Constitution of Sierra Leone (Act No. 6 of 1991) provides for the declaration of a State of Public
Emergency, through subsection (29 1.a), and for the declaration that a situation exists which, if it is
allowed to continue, may lead to a state of public emergency, through subsection (29 1.b).
Extract from The Constitution of Sierra Leone (Act No. 6 of 1991)
29. (1) Whenever in the opinion of the President a state of public emergency is imminent or has commenced,
the President may, at any time, by Proclamation which shall be published in the Gazette, declare that —
a. a state of public emergency exists either in any part, or in the whole of Sierra Leone; or
b. a situation exists which, if it is allowed to continue, may lead to a state of public emergency in any
part of or the whole of Sierra Leone.
(2) The President may issue a Proclamation of a state of public emergency only when —
a. Sierra Leone is at war;
b. Sierra Leone is in imminent danger of invasion or involvement in a state of war; or
c. there is actual breakdown of public order and public safety in the whole of Sierra Leone or any part
thereof to such an extent as to require extraordinary measures to restore peace and security; or
d. there is a clear and present danger of an actual breakdown of public order and public safety in the
whole of Sierra Leone or any part thereof requiring extraordinary measures to avert the same; or
e. there is an occurrence of imminent danger, or the occurrence of any disaster or natural calamity
affecting the community or a section of the community in Sierra Leone; or
f. there is any other public danger which clearly constitutes a threat to the existence of Sierra Leone.
[…]
Other relevant legislation
The National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) Act—published as a supplement to the Sierra Leone
Gazette Vol, CXLXI, no. 34, dated June 11, 2020—indicates the State of Public Emergency set forth in the
constitution as the main exceptional state to respond to disasters. In its article 28 (1), the NDMA Act points
out: “the President may declare a state of emergency in accordance with section 29 of the Constitution of
Sierra Leone, 1991 (Act No. 6 of 1991) […]�?.
31
Declaration of State of Public Emergency for past events
1. 2014 and 2015 Ebola Epidemic31: to combat Ebola, the government of Sierra Leone declared in
July 2014 —and later extended in August 2015—a State of Public Emergency. The declaration was
done in accordance with subsection (1) of section 29 of the Constitution of Sierra Leone.
2. 2017 Freetown Landslide and Floods: multiple sources indicate that on August 15-16, 2017, the
government of Sierra Leone declared a state of emergency requesting for international assistance
and a Level 3 emergency32 (according to the National Disaster Management Preparedness Plan).
However, it was not possible to find the legal evidence related to these declarations.
3. 2019 Declaration of Rape and Sexual Violence as a National Emergency33: on December 7, 2019,
the president issued a statement for the Declaration of Rape and Sexual Violence as a National
Emergency. Although the statement does not mention any piece of legislation (constitution, law,
etc.) with further information, press releases suggest this corresponded to a state of public
emergency in line with the provisions of the constitution.34 Some concerns were raised on the use
of this declaration given exceptional attributions of the president during an emergency
situation.35
4. 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic36: on March 24, 2020, Sierra Leone’s president declared a State of
Public Emergency in the whole of the Republic of Sierra Leone for a period of twelve months, in
accordance with subsection (1) of section 29 of the Constitution of Sierra Leone.
31
https://www.parliament.gov.sl/uploads/other_resources/STATE%20OF%20PUBLIC%20EMERGENCY%20PROCLAMATION%207%
20AUG%202014%20BY%20PRESIDENT%20ERNEST.pdf
32 A level-three disaster corresponds to an extreme disaster, in other words, any disaster that would require massive national
assistance including military involvement and support through outside intervention (or international).
33 https://statehouse.gov.sl/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Statement-by-His-Excellency-Julius-Maada-Bio-President-of-the-
Republic-of-Sierra-Leone-on-the-Declaration-of-Rape-and-Sexual-Violence-as-Public-Emergency-Freetown-7-February-2019.pdf
34 https://www.thesierraleonetelegraph.com/sierra-leone-parliament-approves-state-of-public-emergency-on-
rape/#:~:text=Yesterday%2C%20Friday%2022nd%20February%202019,and%20babies%20in%20the%20country.
35 https://thecalabashnewspaper.com/grave-concerns-over-the-declaration-of-state-of-emergency/?pr=146507&lang=fr and
https://sierraexpressmedia.com/?p=87905
36 https://statehouse.gov.sl/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Declaration-of-a-State-of-Public-Emergency-by-His-Excellency-
Dr.-Julius-Maada-Bio-President-of-the-Republic-of-Sierra-Leone-%E2%80%93-24-March-2020.pdf
32
Annex 2. Assessing Future Climate Conditions in Sierra Leone
As highlighted in the document, extreme rainfall events can lead to flash floods and landslides, impact the
safety of critical infrastructure, and result in riverine flooding. On the other hand, climate change and sea-
level rise can increase the potential for coastal erosion, and changes in the West African Monsoon (WAM)
timing could impact agriculture systems.
Given this context, important questions include:
- What specific climate variables and indices can be used to characterize climate hazards (hot days,
extreme rainfall, tropical cyclones) leading to these risks?
- Which characteristics of the climate system at the global and regional scale influence the variability
of Sierra Leone’s climate conditions, aforementioned variables and associated extreme events at
different timescales?
- Which features of the West African Monsoon (WAM) need to be captured by data to be usable?
Initial response elements
To study relevant hazards leading to risk, the following indices—which are commonly used within the
climate community—may be appropriate.
- For extreme heat: maximum daily temperatures in a year, number of days in a year with maximum
temperatures above 35 °C, number of days in a year with maximum temperatures above 40 °C,
warm spell duration index (annual count of days with at least 6 consecutive days when T > 90th
percentile).
- For extreme rainfall: maximum daily, 3-day, 5-day, and 30-day rainfall in a year.
- For cyclone activity: maximum windspeed observed.
Table 5 below shows potentially useful dataset to investigate past and present climate.
Table 5. Available Datasets to Assess to Monitor Climatic Indicators
Variables Time Temporal Spatial
Dataset Type URL
Covered* Coverage Resolution Resolution
https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/
ERA-INTERIM Reanalysis P, T, WS* 1979–2018 12-hourly ~ 80 km datasets/reanalysis-datasets/era-
interim
1979 (1950)- https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/
ERA-5 Reanalysis P, T, WS Hourly 30 km
present datasets/reanalysis-datasets/era5
https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/
CERA20 Reanalysis P, T, WS 1901–2010 3-hourly 65 km
datasets/reanalysis-datasets/cera-sat
TRMM / Satellite- 1997–
P 1.5 hours 0.25° https://gpm.nasa.gov/data/directory
GPM based present
Monthly
Station- 1979– 2.5° (other https://psl.noaa.gov/data/gridded/da
GPCP P (daily may
based present may exist) ta.gpcp.html
exist)
Station- https://psl.noaa.gov/data/gridded/da
GHCN P, T 1900–2015 Monthly 5°
based ta.ghcngridded.html
Station-
CRU P, T 1901–2019 Monthly ~100km https://sites.uea.ac.uk/cru/data
based
33
WILLMOTT & http://climate.geog.udel.edu/~climat
Station-
MATSUURA P, T 1900–2014 Monthly 0.5° e/html_pages/download.html#ghcn_
based
(UDEL) T_P_clim3
Station- 1901– https://psl.noaa.gov/data/gridded/da
GPCC P Monthly 0.5°
based present ta.gpcc.html
Station
and 1981–
CHIRPS P Daily 0.05° https://www.chc.ucsb.edu/data
Satellite- present
based
STATION
DATA IF P, T NA NA NA NA
AVAILABLE
Satellite- 2000– https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/dat
MOD11 T Daily 1 km
based present aprod/mod11.php
Note: *: P = Precipitation; T = Temperature; WS = Wind speed.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’ Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC AR5),
there is “low to medium confidence�? in the robustness of projected rainfall change over West Africa due
to the inter-model variability in the magnitude and the sign of foreseen change. This can in part be
attributed to the inability of General Circulation Models (GCMs) to resolve convective rainfall, synoptic
and sub-synoptic precipitation and mesoscale convective systems. Their relatively coarse resolution
prevents them to convey the effects of vegetation, orography, and coastlines.
The WAM is a multi-scale process, and models can obviously not represent cumulus-scale interactions
due to resolution issues, but some might represent key processes, interactions, and patterns at the global,
synoptic and mesoscale better than others. Traditional model validation compares mean of hindcasts to
observation or reanalysis data. However, that models reproduce key climate processes and dynamic
features is equally important, as it may hint at more appropriate results in future simulation exercises.
This is likely especially true when extremes are of interest and processed-based validation concentrating
on specific features of the WAM can be used to discriminate which models.
More specifically, criteria for model selection in the region are the correct representation of:
- Wet season (JJAS) precipitation magnitude and location
- WAM annual cycle (onset, monsoon jump, retreat)
- African Easterly Jet (AEJ) and associated African Easterly Waves (AEWs)
- Tropical Easterly Jet (TEJ)
- Saharan Heat Low
- ITCZ location
Further, the WAM is influenced by climate phenomena beyond the region at different frequencies. First,
it has been documented that the Indian monsoon sets off the WAM wet season through a teleconnection.
The WAM is also impacted at lower frequencies by ENSO (interannual scale), and by the Atlantic
Multidecadal Oscillation, which influences the intensity of certain key characteristics. Thus, data used
should, as much as possible, be able to capture these oscillations and teleconnections.
Three main global efforts exist to investigate model capabilities to appropriately reproduce the WAM
and provide future projections for the region. The African Multidisciplinary Monsoon Analysis (AMMA),
the Ensembles-Based Predictions of Climate Change and their Impacts (ENSEMBLES) African project, and
34
the Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX). These efforts use both GCMs, and RCMs.
While there are some differences, overall, RCMs tend to carry issues from biases and some of the
uncertainties of the GCMs used to parametrize them, and are generally unable of accounting for two-way
interactions between regional and global processes.
A rapid literature review37 suggests that at as of 2020, most GCMs and RCMs still show significant biases
and uncertainty for simulating the WAM (in particular regarding precipitation), underestimate low-
frequency variability, and that the common practice is still to use multi-model ensembles. However, some
important features (monsoon jump, SHL, AEJ, TEJ, etc.) and extreme characteristics are captured by
certain RCMs. Generally, simulations have higher skill over West Africa than over the Sahelian region,
although some perform poorly over the Guinean Coast, but the construction of ensembles must be
location-specific, as biases and uncertainty for different models vary per region. A high-resolution GCM
experiment has also been performed and seems to have yielded interesting results.38
37 Comprised of the following articles:
- Akinsanola, A. A., Ajayi, V. O., Adejare, A. T., Adeyeri, O. E., Gbode, I. E., Ogunjobi, K. O., ... & Abolude, A. T. (2018). Evaluation
of Rainfall Simulations over West Africa in Dynamically Downscaled CMIP5 Global Circulation Models. Theoretical and
applied climatology, 132(1-2), 437-450.
- Akinsanola, A. A., Ogunjobi, K. O., Gbode, I. E., & Ajayi, V. O. (2015). Assessing the Capabilities of Three Regional Climate
Models over CORDEX Africa in Simulating West African Summer Monsoon Precipitation. Advances in Meteorology, 2015.
- Akinsanola, A. A., & Zhou, W. (2019). Projections of West African Summer Monsoon Rainfall Extremes From Two CORDEX
Models. Climate Dynamics, 52(3-4), 2017-2028.
- Cerezo-Mota, R., Christensen, O. B., Dqu, M., Fernandez, J., Hnsler, A., van Meijgaard, E., ... & Sushama, L. (2012).
Precipitation Climatology in an Ensemble of CORDEX-Africa Regional Climate Simulations. J Clim. doi: http://dx. doi.
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35
Annex 3. Fiscal Trends and DRM-Related Expenditure and Budget
Allocations
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