Extreme Weather and Poverty Risk : Evidence from Multiple Shocks in Mozambique
Thanks to strong economic growth over the last two decades, poverty in Mozambique has decreased and the average household is now more likely to access basic education, health, and housing. Yet, the country is still ravaged by intense and frequent w...
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2019
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/848081551973621308/Extreme-Weather-and-Poverty-Risk-Evidence-from-Multiple-Shocks-in-Mozambique http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31381 |
| Summary: | Thanks to strong economic growth over
the last two decades, poverty in Mozambique has decreased
and the average household is now more likely to access basic
education, health, and housing. Yet, the country is still
ravaged by intense and frequent weather disasters. To
determine the scale and nature of the impacts of these
shocks, this paper analyzes the vulnerability of rural
livelihoods across three different extreme weather events:
droughts, floods and cyclones. The study finds that per
capita food and non-food consumption and asset ownership are
reduced among households affected by any of the three
weather shocks. Their children are less likely to attend
school, have a higher probability of falling sick and show
higher engagement in paid and unpaid work. What’s more,
staple food prices are disrupted and remain affected nearly
a year after the disaster. Helping households confront these
events requires comprehensive risk management policies,
including making agriculture more resilient to weather,
improving the functioning of credit and insurance markets,
facilitating economic diversification and market access, and
increasing the availability of flexible safety nets – all
before the shocks occur. |
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