Raising awareness to geo-hydrological hazard risks in African countries: A guide booklet for stakeholders, policy markers and the public at large

Many regions of Africa are exposed to a large variety of geo-hydrological hazards such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, floods, karst collapses and large urban gullies. Despite the soaring impacts on population, infrastructure and the environment associated with the occurrence of these hazard risks, most regions are under-studied. In addition to this lack of information, stakeholders, policy makers and the public at large remain relatively poorly aware of the hazard and risk problems, whether it is about their causes, their impact, and/or their mitigation. This overall lack of knowledge and awareness is associated with an aggravation of the impacts as the growing and vulnerable population of these regions, in search for new settlements and opportunities, is often moving towards areas that are more prone to natural hazards. This is in this context that UNESCO supports the preparation and dissemination of a guide booklet on geo-hydrological hazards for stakeholders, policy makers and the general public. The booklet targets ten African countries (Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe) that are covered by the UNESCO regional office of Yaoundé. The aim of this work is to raise collective awareness of the need to prevent natural hazard risks at local, regional and national levels in order to ensure the protection of populations and promote the sustainable development of territories. In this way, UNESCO aims to guide and advise the ten African countries by providing them with useful and practical information.