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Cameroon has recorded disasters, both natural and man-made, in the past. The coastal city of Limbe and many other geographical locations are potential sites for future disasters. On the basis of interviews and related primary and secondary literature, this article looks at past occurrences of floods in Limbe, particularly those of 2001, and how the state and local authorities managed the challenge. Through this, it attempts an evaluation of state policies and the institutional structure for disaster risk reduction (DRR) and management in the country. The study reveals that Cameroon does not have a national disaster management structure and a national platform for DRR. Disaster related activities are lumped together with other civil protection responsibilities of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization (MIN-ATD) despite the country's commitment to the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015. Government interventions are more reactive than proactive although its strategy to disaster management indicates both disaster preparedness and emergency intervention and rehabilitation. The study concludes that the present strategy is bureaucratic, financially burdensome, and does not really achieve the essential goals of DRR in saving lives and reducing vulnerability. For DRR to be effective in Cameroon, a permanent disaster management unit with regional and local structures should be put in place independent of other branches of the Department of Disaster and Emergency Services of MINATD and with each level exercising a significant degree of operative autonomy. A national policy and framework with emphasis on DRR should be adopted in the country.

Droughts have been identified as an environmental hazard by environmentalists, ecologists, hydrologists, meteorologists, geologists, and agricultural experts. Droughts are characterised by a decrease in precipitation over a lengthy period, such as a season or a year, and can occur in virtually all climatic zones, including both high and low rainfall locations. This study reviewed drought-related impacts on the environment and other components particularly, in South Africa. Several attempts have been made using innovative technology such as earth observation and climate information as recorded in studies. Findings show that the country is naturally water deficient, which adds to the climate fluctuation with the average annual rainfall in South Africa being far below the global average of 860 mm per year. Drought in South Africa’s Western Cape Province, for example, has resulted in employment losses in the province’s agriculture sector. According to the third quarterly labor force survey from 2017, the agricultural industry lost almost 25,000 jobs across the country. In the Western Cape province, about 20,000 of these were lost which has a direct impact on income generation. Many of these impacts were linked to drought events.

This study aimed to explore the rich tapestry of studies on drought disasters, drought vulnerability, drought severity and water shortage (DDVS_WS), taking into account the critical situation and circumstance posed by drought in line with the shortage in water supplies. In total, 1117 original articles were downloaded in a BibTeX format for further analysis. The downloaded information included, but was not limited to authors, title, year of publication, citations, author keywords, keywords plus, countries of publications, institutions, journals, citations. Published studies on DDVS_WS obtained from the web of science (WOS) and Scopus databases on 20 May 2020 were used in this study. The field of DDVS_WS experienced a drastic increase with an annual growth of about 12.7% in terms of continued publications output during the years under assessment. Considering the country level, China ranked first with the highest number of publications, and the USA has great academic influence with most top articles' citations emerging from the USA affiliated institutions and research centres. Based on the top keyword, drought and climate change are at the centre of issues related to drought and water shortage, this provides a hint on the relatedness of drought and climate change for further studies. This study offers a map to navigate the intellectual quandary of DDVS_WS research and guidance for further studies in this area of specialization. It is fundamental to stress that this study only covers the core area of DDVS_WS research, hence, it is expected that new empirical studies and potential solutions would offer new insight on drought and water shortage as new research evolves.

This article investigated the knowledge and practice of a nature-based solution to reduce disaster risks of drought, veld fires and floods using wetlands in the eastern Free State, South Africa. A mixed research method approach was used to collect primary data using three data collection tools, namely questionnaires, interviews and field observations. Ninety-five wetlands under communal and private ownership as well as a few in protected areas were sampled, with their users completing questionnaires. The study showed that communal wetlands were more degraded, while wetlands in protected areas and in private commercial farms were in a good ecological state. An extensive literature review reveals that healthy wetlands are effective buffers in reducing disaster risks such as drought, veld fires and floods which are recurrent in the study area. Therefore, through better land-use and management practices, backed by education and awareness, wetlands could be good instruments to mitigate recurrent natural hazards in the agriculturally dominated eastern Free State in South Africa.