Transcript sustainable development: from community approaches to flood

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO
CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IN
SOUTH ASIA
Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad
Chairman, Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad (BUP)
President, Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA)
Delhi CC&SD Workshop
7-8 April 2006
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 Constructing Sustainable Development
Pathway
 Sustainable development is now widely
agreed to imply: a coordinated promotion
of economic, social, and ecological
objectives, involving all segments of
population
 These three basic pillars are entwined and
are mutually influenced through a
complex of feed-back relationships
Delhi CC&SD Workshop
7-8 April 2006
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 Constructing Sustainable Development
Pathway (contd.)
 Sustainable development pathway, can,
therefore, be constructed through an
integrated approach, involving key
elements of the three pillars
Delhi CC&SD Workshop
7-8 April 2006
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 Constructing Sustainable Development
Pathway (contd.)
 It is, therefore, essential that for
sustainable development (economic and
social) and climate change communities
 Work together
 Appreciate the importance of interlinkages and collectively formulate policies
and processes
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 Constructing Sustainable Development
Pathway (contd.)
 The political process has also to be
sensitized and supportive because it is
the political process that creates the
policy environment, institutional support,
and financing arrangement directly as
well as through private sectors by the
appropriate incentives
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 Sustainable Development in South Asia:
Challenges Faced, even without Climate
Change (CC)
 SAARC countries (except the newly
admitted Afghanistan) contain a total
population of 1.4 billion, about 22 per
cent of the world total
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 Sustainable Development in South Asia:
Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.)
 But, its landmass is only 3.4 per cent of the
world landmass
 Between 400 and 500 million people are
below national poverty lines, accounting for
about one-third of the total population of
the region and about 40 per cent of the
world’s total poor population
Delhi CC&SD Workshop
7-8 April 2006
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 Sustainable Development in South Asia:
Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.)
 Population growth rates are still high in the
region, which are Bangladesh (1.7%) India
(1.4%), Maldives (2.4%), Pakistan (2.0),
Sri Lanka (0.7%)
 Efforts are afoot to reduce population
growth rate in each country, but still a long
way to go before a stabilization can be
reached
Delhi CC&SD Workshop
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 Sustainable Development in South Asia:
Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.)
 The countries of the region are
achieving reasonable or even high
economic growth rate, but, disparity has
been increasing, given that the poor do
not get their equitable shares
Delhi CC&SD Workshop
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 Sustainable Development in South Asia:
Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.)
 According to the latest available data (Circa
2000), the national income share of the
poorest 10 per cent in Bangladesh, India,
Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka from 3.4 per
cent to 3.9 per cent, while that of the
richest 10 per cent varies from 27 per cent
to 29 per cent
Delhi CC&SD Workshop
7-8 April 2006
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 Sustainable Development in South Asia:
Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.)
 The situation has in fact worsened since
2000
 The poor are severely disadvantaged
because of extremely low human
capability (education, training, and
health)
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 Sustainable Development in South Asia:
Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.)
 The poor suffer from extremely limited
access to resources (land, capital,
environmental facilities) and from political
and social marginalization
 Moreover, there are severe gender
inequalities
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 Sustainable Development in South Asia:
Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.)
 Clearly, therefore, a lot needs to be
done to create a cohesive socioeconomic-political environment,
involving all segments of society
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 Sustainable Development in South Asia:
Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.)
 While there are sustainability problems
in relation to economic and social
development, environmental degradation
also continues unabated. As a result, the
natural base of economic growth is
severely threatened
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 Sustainable Development in South Asia:
Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.)
 Severe stresses are, therefore, faced by
the South Asian countries in relation to
all aspects (economic, social,
environmental) of sustainable
development
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 Sustainable Development in South Asia:
Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.)
 In the Wake of Climate Change
 Climate change generally renders the
natural systems increasingly fragile
and degrades the conditions in which
human systems operate
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 Sustainable Development in South Asia:
Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.)
 In the Wake of Climate Change (contd.)
 When climate change is
superimposed on the persisting,
even accentuating social, economic,
and environmental problems faced,
the way forward is extremely
complex and difficult
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 Sustainable Development in South Asia:
Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.)

In the Wake of Climate Change (contd.)
 In order to get through the interlinked
deficits and stresses, a multi-pronged
integrated approach is necessary to
make progress towards sustainable
development
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
WE NOW EXPLORE
 The linkages between community approaches to
disaster (flood) management on the one hand
and sustainable development in general and
climate change adaptation in particular, on the
other - based on a pilot study conducted in
Bangladesh, India, and Nepal on Community
Approaches to Flood Management (CAFM)
during 2002-2005
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 Community Approaches to Flood
Management (CAFM) in South Asia
 The CAFM pilot project has been implemented,
with support from WMO/GWP APFM, by
 Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad (BUP), Dhaka (two floodprone locations)
 Institute for Resource management and Economic
Development (IRMED), New Delhi (three flood-prone
locations)
 Jalstrot Vikas Sanstha (JVS), Kathmandu (two flood-prone
locations)
* BUP is the coordinating organization
Delhi CC&SD Workshop
7-8 April 2006
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 CAFM in South Asia (contd.)
 The Purposes
 Avoiding flood risks through awareness
building and community preparedness.
 Reducing losses and damages at the
grassroots (household, public institutions,
infrastructure)
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 The Purposes (contd.)
 Capacity building of the communities to
face flood more effectively
 Facilitating the access of the communities
to organized services from relevant
agencies (local government, CBOs/NGOs,
agencies of the central state government)
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 The purposes (contd.)
 Seeking to enhance congruence of microlevel action with macro policies (for policy,
institutional, and resource support)
 Continuous education and capacity
enhancement
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 CAFM in South Asia (contd.)
 Field Work and Flood Management Manual
Development
 Data and information have been collected
through
a.
b.
c.
Field visits/focus group discussions (FGDs)
Participatory rural appraisals (PRAs)
Key informants interviews
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 CAFM in South Asia (contd.)
 Field Work and Flood Management Manual
Development (contd.)
 Based on data and information collected
and insights gathered
a. Main flood-related problems faced by the
communities were identified
b. The ways the people themselves address the
problems identified
c. Using the outcomes of these analyses and further
discussions, as required, with the communities,
Flood management Manual (FMM) were prepared
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 CAFM in South Asia (contd.)
 Field Work and Flood Management Manual
Development (contd.)
 FMMs were then field-tested and wide-scale
discussions were held with the local communities of
the study areas
 Based on the results of those field tests and
discussions and further analysis, FMMs were
revised
 A synthesis of the three country-manuals was
finally prepared
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
Sustainable Development: The Way
Forward
 From sustainable development, people have
to be empowered through
 improvement in their economic status and
 enhancement of their social development on one
hand, while on the other
 improvement of their resilience and capacity to
face natural disasters, which are likely to be more
severe and more frequent due to climate change,
more effectively
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 Climate Change in South Asia
 Parts of South Asia are at the forefront of
climate change, involving both natural and
human systems (IPCC 2001), for example
 Coastal and low-lying areas due to
increased precipitation and floods, storm
surges, and sea-level rises; widespread
water-borne and vector-borne diseases
 Severe droughts in parts of India, Pakistan,
and Afghanistan but also in other countries;
heat-related diseases.
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 Climate Change in South Asia (contd.)
 Glaciers in the Himalayas are retreating
with increasing melting due to global
warming. This process will increase dry
season flows and sediment loads in the
Himalayas rivers in the short run. Over
longer run, dry season flows in the
rivers will decrease, with consequent
economic, social, and environment
problems
Delhi CC&SD Workshop
7-8 April 2006
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 Climate Change in South Asia (contd.)
 Adverse impact on the agriculture (crop,
fishery, forestry, and livestock),
industry, navigation
 The poor and the disadvantaged, who
have extremely limited economic
capacity, and often live in marginal
areas are liable to suffer the most
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7-8 April 2006
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
CAFM and Climate Change
 Climate change issues were not included in
the CAFM exercise
 But, people have shown keen awareness
that severe floods are occurring more
frequently in recent times
Delhi CC&SD Workshop
7-8 April 2006
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 From CAFM to Climate Change
Adaptation
 The Manuals have generated the following
outputs for pre-flood, during-flood, and
post-flood stages
 Lists of challenges faced
 Lists of activities the people themselves
undertake to manage floods
 Lists of activities on which people need
capacity improvement, and the ways of
achieving that capacity improvement
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7-8 April 2006
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 From CAFM to Climate Change
Adaptation (contd.)
 The Manuals (contd.)
 Training, liaison with other local high level agencies
are envisaged
 And a key proposal is the setting up of Community
Flood Management Committees (CFMCs) in
cooperation with the local government institutions
(Union Parishad in Bangladesh and Panchayet in
India and Nepal). The members of the committee
are drawn from various walks of life and sensitized
and trained as required, by a facilitating
organization
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 From CAFM to Climate Change
Adaptation (contd.)
 The Manuals (contd.)
 The CFMC will plan, facilitate, organize
training programmes, and undertake
other community-level activities,
facilitating by a relevant local/national
institution, at pre-, during, and post-flood
stages
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7-8 April 2006
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 From CAFM to Climate Change
Adaptation (contd.)


The manuals were implemented, obviously,
including setting up of CFMCs and training
programmes conducted, in
two areas in Bangladesh, two areas in Nepal,
and one area in India; and found to be very
beneficial
Although, the implementation has been very
limited, the efficacy of the approach seems
broadly validated. Wide-scale replication is
needed
Delhi CC&SD Workshop
7-8 April 2006
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 From CAFM to Climate Change
Adaptation (contd.)
 Once the capacity of the communities are, thus,
enhanced to manage floods or other natural
disasters, a major step will have been achieved
towards adaptation to climate change
 It will be necessary to incorporate climate risk
assessments in the process, for which linkages
with national and international sources of climate
change information will be needed to be tapped
 Also, linkages with national and international
sources of assistance will be required
Delhi CC&SD Workshop
7-8 April 2006
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM
COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD
VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE
CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA
 Thank you
Delhi CC&SD Workshop
7-8 April 2006
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