Transcript Presentation to World Bank Civil Society Forum

Reducing Vulnerability
to Climate Change
World Vision’s
Experience Helping
Children and Their
Families
9/April/2008
Douglas R. Brown
Outline
• Who we are and what we do
• Climate, livelihoods and vulnerability
• Practical examples
– COVACA
– FMNR
– Conservation Agriculture
• Global perspectives on climate, change and resilience
– Coastal areas
– Agriculture and food security
– Perceptions of risk and attitudes to climate change
Who we are and what we do
•
World Vision is:
– “a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working
with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice”
•
Focus on human and social transformation
– Area Development Programs (ADP)– long-term perspective
•
•
Improved well-being for children and their families
A three-pronged strategy
– development programming
– humanitarian response
– advocacy
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Serve all regardless of religion, race, gender or ethnicity
An international partnership
Assist approximately 100 million people in nearly 100 countries with a
global budget of almost $3.6 billion
Climate Change
and Human
Well-Being
• Combating climate change is
central to all humanitarian
action
– Climate change is not only
an environmental
problem as there are:
• Social aspects
• Economic aspects
– Climate change is
fundamentally a
development problem
Sustainable Livelihoods Framework
Vulnerability and context of household decision-making:
• environmental, economic, social context
• policies, institutions and procedures (PIPs)
Livelihood building
blocks:
• social
• human
• natural
• physical
• financial
Livelihood
strategy A:
• activity 1
• activity 2
• activity 3
Livelihood
strategy B:
• activity 1
• activity 2
• activity 3
Vulnerability
= f(exposure, adaptive capacity)
Desired livelihood outcomes:
• child well-being
• health
• resilient
• sustainable
Actual livelihood outcomes:
• malnutrition
• illness
• vulnerable
• unsustainable
COVACA
Community-Owned Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment
• A key component of DRR and
Adaptation efforts throughout
World Vision
• COVACA in Haiti consisted of:
– A realistic assessment of
vulnerabilities and capacities
leading to better decision making
– Identify activities that
communities can implement
within their own resources to
protect themselves from selected
key threats
– Empower the community to take
responsibility for their own
protection and implementation
the identified activities
FMNR
Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration
• Key success factors:
– Initial incentive
– Genuine active
community
participation
– Socio-cultural norms
– Institutional change
– Widespread adoption
• Adapting it to other contexts:
– West Africa – Senegal, Mali, Niger, Chad
– Ethiopia
– CDM project
– Community see benefit already
Conservation Agriculture
• Key success factors
– Carbon, nutrient and water cycling
– Labour resource constraints
– Management of crop
residues/mulch
– Socio-cultural institutions
Asia-Pacific Region Report
• The future of our
planet lies in our
hands
• Proactive adaptation –
prepare for disasters
and change before they
occur
– reducing
vulnerability and risk
– increasing resilience
– promoting
preparedness
http://www.preventionweb.net/english/professional/publications/v.php?id=8131
Global Food Security Initiative
Priority Interventions for
Adaptation, Resilience and Food Security
Short-term
(Crisis/Emergency)
Mid-term
(Transition and
Development)
 General Targeted
Food/Cash
Assistance
 Food or Cash for Work
or Assets
(FFW/CFW/FFA/CFA)
 Vulnerable Group
Feeding (VGF)
 Support for
Agricultural Inputs
 Community
 Essential Nutrition
Package (ENP)
Management of
Acute Malnutrition  Food for Education
(CMAM)
(FFE)
Long-term
(Restoration and Development)
 Core Health and Nutrition
Package
 Diversification of Farming
Systems
 Soil and Water
Conservation/Management
 Post-harvest Handling,
Storage and Marketing
Global Agricultural Strategy
• To promote ecologically-sound, socially and economically
viable and just small-holder agriculture and NRM practices
that contribute to the well-being of children
– Promote more productive and sustainable agricultural
systems
– Protect and/or restore healthy agro-ecosystems
– Support viable markets and smallholder agricultural
enterprises
– Build smallholder household resilience and capacity to
manage risk in the face of shocks
– Engage in advocacy supportive of smallholder agricultural
development
Climate Change Survey
• Organization-wide survey
– Attitudes to climate change
– Perceptions of risk
– Understanding of concepts
• climate change
• adaptation
• Mitigation
Choose Hope
• Climate science:
– Projections of what might happen if
– Predictions of what will happen
• We have a choice
– Denial says “nothing needs to be done”
– Despair says “nothing can be done”
– Between these, there is hope – with hope we:
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Look for solutions
Act as stewards
Choose justice
Protect and nurture our children and their future
THANK YOU