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MODULE 9: DISASTER RISK REDUCTION:

STRENGTHENING LIVELIHOOD RESILIENCE [ Draft Two -21 Nov 2012 ]

Lead Authors: Monica Trujillo (FAO)

Contributors: Stephan Baas (FAO)

Reviewers: Pai-Yei Whung (WB), Jim Hancock (FAO), Richard Choularton (WFP), Kennedy Igbokwe (FAO), Niels Balzer

Table of Content

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2

I. Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation ..................................................................................................................... 4

II. Planning for Resilience Against Multiple Risks ...................................................................................................................................... 5

2.1 The multiplicity of threats to agriculture and food security ................................................................................................................ 5

2.2 Mapping multiple risk scenarios for sustainable planning ................................................................................................................... 6

2.3 Combining risk assessment and climate change scenarios for effective CSA ...................................................................................... 9

III. Building on Community-based Approaches to DRR and Adaptation ............................................................................................. 11

IV. Up-scaling Proven Technologies and Practices for Resilient Livelihoods ................................................................................................ 13

4.1 Building on and expanding DRR knowledge and practice in agriculture ............................................................................................ 13

4.2 Combining DRR knowledge with CCA innovation for resilient adaptation ........................................................................................ 17

V. The Enabling Framework of DRR to Support CSA ..................................................................................................................................... 21

5.1 Governance: national institutional structures and policy frameworks for DRR ................................................................................. 21

5.2 Region-wide platforms and inter-governmental strategies for DRR .................................................................................................. 24

VI. Concluding Remarks and Recommendations .......................................................................................................................................... 24

References .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 28

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Introduction This module will demonstrate how proven policy and practice worldwide in disaster risk reduction (DRR) can contribute to the objectives of climate smart agriculture and provide a rich foundation for up-scaling CSA. Of the wide range of good practices in risk reduction and the many potential contributions of DRR to CSA, the module presents some examples of practical methods, tools and technologies successfully applied to reduce disaster risk in the agriculture sector. It further presents the broad landscape of national institutional mechanisms, policy frameworks and plans established in many countries for disaster risk reduction, and how this platform represents a supportive enabling environment for CSA. When this capacity in disaster risk reduction is combined with the know-how emerging on adaptation, the results can be fruitful and far-reaching: strategic frameworks designed to guide action and investment in CSA at country level will be more holistic in addressing the multiple threats to livelihoods and more comprehensive in the short and long term measures adopted. More specifically, this module focuses on the potential contribution of risk reduction policy and practice to the achievement of the second pillar on which CSA is built: strengthening resilience to climate change and variability”, as illustrated in the following diagram.

Part I introduces disaster risk reduction and describes some of its main characteristics, highlighting the important common ground it shares with emerging practices in climate change adaptation. Part II illustrates how a multi-hazard approach that examines the diversity of threats to agriculture is effective for building resilient agricultural landscapes that are better protected against multiple shocks. This is particularly relevant in localized landscapes where multiple risks converge and threaten the lives and livelihoods of households and farming communities. The application of risk assessments that follow an all-hazard-all risks approach combined with downscaled climate change scenarios enables holistic planning and investment in CSA. Part III presents community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM) as a proven bottoms-up participatory approach to risk assessment, planning, implementation and monitoring. It supports integrated measures under CSA that build on CBDRM and on community-based adaptation, particularly because they are mutually reinforcing and can offer an inclusive institutional platform integrating all relevant local actors. Part IV makes reference to the vast pool of traditional knowledge and risk reduction technologies and practices used in the agricultural sector, and shows that CSA can achieve significant scale through the replication of these proven good practices. It also highlights how risk reduction and adaptation converge in one vital area: the recognition that ecosystem approaches and sustainable natural resource management are fundamental to strengthening resilience. Existing ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction measures can strengthen

Know-how and

knowledge

sharing:

Proven

technologies &

practices for

DRR

Bottoms-up

participatory

approaches:

CBDRM

Enabling

environment:

Legislations,

policies and

plans for DRR

Risk

assessments:

Multi-hazard

risk analysis

and mapping

Disaster Risk Reduction

Global policy

framework:

Hyogo

Framework for

Action

Climate Smart Agriculture

Pillar 1 Sustainably increase productivity and income

Pillar 2 Strengthen resilience to climate change and variability

Pillar 3 Reduce greenhouse gas emissions

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adaptation efforts under CSA. In this sense, sustainable ecosystem management provides “the unifying base” for promoting risk reduction and adaptation, maximizing opportunities for achieving livelihood security. Part V presents the current wealth of national institutional arrangements and policy and planning frameworks for disaster risk reduction, and argues that such significant achievements can be harnessed in favor of CSA. The effective reduction of vulnerabilities to current natural hazards and to climate change requires consistency in policies and programmes, as well as strong partnership and coordination across different levels of governance.

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I. Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation

Climate change is expected to result in more frequent and intensive climate-related hazards; it will also reduce the predictability and change the spatial distribution of extreme climatic hazards, such as temperature extremes, floods and droughts, heat waves, wild-land fires and storms. Existing vulnerabilities will be further compounded by climate change-related processes, such as sea level rise, glacier melt and ecosystem stress and degradation of natural resources

1.

Meanwhile the world has been coping with the devastating effect of natural disasters stemming from both geological and weather-related hazards. Experience shows that their negative and cumulative impact erodes livelihoods and coping capacities overtime, reduces food production and increases hunger. The clear link between shocks and hunger reveal the fragility of food production systems and their vulnerability to natural hazards

2. Evidence demonstrates their direct contribution in reversing development and poverty-reduction

gains. Worldwide, vigorous efforts have helped to strengthen the capacity of communities and nations to cope with natural hazards, and more importantly to reduce their exposure and vulnerability, establishing national and local institutional structures and plans for disaster risk reduction (DRR), developing and applying methodologies, practical tools and community-based approaches to prevent, mitigate and reduce the impact of these threats, and to prepare for the disasters they produce. This global experience and established capacity in addressing disaster risks is directly relevant to climate change adaptation (CCA) and to climate-smart agriculture. Managing disaster risks is analogous to the new challenges expected under climate change, and past experience provides meaningful lessons and examples of good practice that inform improved future action

3. By now, many countries

have made significant progress in meeting the priorities agreed to in the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), the 10-year plan to make the world safer from natural hazards, endorsed by 193 member states and implemented under the coordination of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR)

4. Disaster risk reduction is understood as the “concept and practice of reducing disaster risks

through systematic efforts to analyse and manage the causal factors of disasters, including through reduced exposure to hazards, lessened vulnerability of people and property, wise management of land and the environment, and improved preparedness for adverse events”

5. While distinct in scope, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation (CCA) share a common concern over climate-

related extreme events, and in the agriculture sector they both aim to build resilient livelihoods. Recognizing this inter-connectedness, the Cancun Adaptation Framework calls for enhancing climate change related disaster risk reduction strategies, taking into consideration the Hyogo Framework for Action where appropriate. This link is also formally acknowledged in a number of international treaties including the HFA, UNFCCC and the Bali Action Plan. The United Nations Secretary General noted that “better DRR will help the world adapt to climate change”; and that DRR should be applied “...as a first line of defense in adapting to climate change”

6. The aim should be to “capitalize on the common concerns of adaptation and risk reduction in

policies and practical action, and to seek the triple win of lower disaster risks, adaptation to climate change, and sustainable development outcomes”

7. Building resilience through sound safety nets, disaster risk reduction and adaptation planning is one of six

priority areas for action in the recent Report of the Secretary General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability8. The post-2015 UN

development agenda agreed to at the global Rio+20 conference calls for the integration of risk reduction and adaptation into sustainable development strategies

9.

Although focused primarily on the opportunities offered by DRR, this module follows the rationale that climate-smart agriculture stands to benefit significantly from an integrated and coherent approach to adaptation and risk reduction in the agriculture sector, building on the shared vision toward resilient farming systems. In doing so, CSA can offer a holistic framework incorporating short-term solutions to extreme events and longer-term adaptation measures to slow-onset climate changes. Given the scarcity of financial resources, in both the developing world and in development aid budgets, coherent policies and actions are necessary for greater cost-effectiveness and to enhance aid effectiveness.

1 The Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. IPCC. 2 Resilient Livelihoods: Disaster Risk Reduction for Food and Nutrition Security. FAO. 2011. 3 Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX). IPCC. 2012. 4 Hyogo Framework for Action: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters. UNISDR. 2005. 5 UNISDR Terminology on Disaster Risk Reduction. UNISDR. 2009. 6 Speech by Secretary-General BAN Ki-moon on Risk Reduction and Climate Change, United Nations Headquarters, 29

September 2008. 7 Adaptation to Climate Change by Reducing Disaster Risks: Country Practices and Lessons Briefing Note 02. UNISDR. 8 From Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing. Report of the United Nations’ Secretary General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability. 2012. 9 Realizing the Future We Want for All Report to the Secretary-General. 2012.

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II. Planning for Resilience Against Multiple Risks

2.1 The multiplicity of threats to agriculture and food security Building resilience requires that we “grasp the dimension of multiple challenges”

10. Examining the diversity of natural hazards that

affect agriculture and food security demonstrates that even without climate change a multiplicity of hazards already erode livelihoods and compromise gains made in food security and in meeting MDG1. These shocks include geological hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions, man-made threats such as conflict, economic crises, high food prices, and traditional weather-related hazards such as floods, drought and storms. In 2012, over 18 million people face food insecurity in the Sahel region of West and Central Africa

11. The Sahel last experienced a major

food crisis in 2010 affecting ten million people. In the Horn of Africa the ongoing food security crisis which began in 2011 has threatened the lives and livelihoods of over 12 million people. In 2010, Pakistan experienced unprecedented floods during the monsoon season, assessed as the worst since 1929, affecting the entire length of the country and over 20 million people. The impact on agriculture was dramatic, with over two million hectares of cultivatable land and 1.3 million hectares of standing crops were damaged (e.g. rice, maize, cotton, sugar cane, orchards and vegetables). Six million poultry and 1.2 million large and small animals were lost

12. Heavy rains yet again during the 2011 monsoon caused renewed and

devastating flooding affecting almost 10 million people. A second assessment estimated that two and a half million people faced severe food insecurity, and half of these faced hunger. This time households lost 66 percent of their cattle and 33 percent of their poultry on average. The flood also had a significant upward impact on commodity prices, with the price of paddy increasing by 25% on average while the purchasing power of labor decreased by 13 percent

13.

Geological hazards also have serious direct and indirect negative outcomes for agriculture and livelihood security. The Haitian earthquake caused nearly US$26 million in damages to the agricultural sector

14. The destruction of the Haitian capital severely affected

access to a vital market and other production infrastructure, and this together with the migration of over half a million people from urban to rural areas put additional pressure on rural livelihoods. In agricultural areas hit by the earthquake, debris and landslides damaged farmland irrigation systems, permanent storage and processing centers and the administrative and technical buildings of the Ministry of Agriculture. All these factors combined to produce sharp declines in income, food reserves and food availability, along with price hikes

15. The tsunami of December 2004 which affected 12 countries in the Indian Ocean, had a devastating impact on the

agriculture and fisheries sectors. Some 40,000 hectares of irrigated land were destroyed by floods on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, and in Banda Aceh nearly 70 percent of the small scale fishing fleet and associated gear was destroyed. Frequently, disasters combine with other factors and underlying vulnerabilities to produce food insecurity and hunger. High food prices, which added 75 million people to the total number of undernourished worldwide in 2008 relative to 2003–2005

16, was the result of the

fuel crisis, slower growth in food production, lower stock levels, and increased use of agro-fuels, among other factors17

. The current crisis in the Horn of Africa is the result of drought caused by erratic and failed rains over two rainy seasons, high food prices due to soaring fuel costs, and in Somalia exacerbated by civil insecurity

18. In the Sahel, “a lethal mix of drought, high grain prices,

environmental degradation, entrenched poverty and other factors is behind the crisis”19

. Not surprisingly, countries in protracted crisis situations, which are characterized by recurrent natural disasters and/or conflict, longevity of food crises, breakdown of livelihoods and insufficient institutional capacity to react to the crises, show high levels of food insecurity. On average, the proportion of people who are undernourished is almost three times as high in countries in protracted crisis as in other developing countries

20.

10 Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing. High-level Panel on Global Sustainability. 2012. 11 The Sahel Crisis: Executive Brief. FAO. March 2012 and July 2012. 12 Pakistan Floods 2010: Preliminary Damage and Needs Assessment. ADB, WB. 2010. 13 Multi-sector Damage Needs Assessment in Sindh and Balochistan Provinces, Pakistan. UN. 2011. 14 Haiti Earthquake PDNA: Assessment of damage, losses, general and sectoral needs. 2010. 15 Executive Brief: Haiti Emergency and Rehabilitation Response. FAO. 2010; and FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security

Assessment Mission to Haiti. 2010. 16 The State of Food Insecurity in the World. 2008. FAO 17 World Disasters Report 2011: Focus on Hunger and Malnutrition. IFRC 18 Horn of Africa Drought Executive Brief. FAO. August 2011; East Africa Food Security Outlook Update. FewsNet. July 2011. 19 The Sahel Crisis: Executive Brief. FAO. March 2012. 20Ibid.

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The incidence of food crises has been rising since the early 1980s. There have been between 50 and 65 food emergencies every year since 2000, up from 25 to 45 during the 1990s

21. Climate change is a multiplier of risk by increasing the number and scale of extreme

climate-related events such as drought and floods. Disaster risks and climate change both impact negatively and in similar ways on agriculture and both threaten to increase hunger over time. In addition there is growing probability of ‘simultaneous crises where different hazards occur at the same time, ‘sequential crisis’ where hazards trigger cascading disasters in a range of interlocked systems, and ‘synchronous failures’ where different risks converge and interact

22. Today the challenge is to ensure food security in the context of

multiple hazards and climate change.

2.2 Mapping multiple risk scenarios for sustainable planning Understanding risk is a vital part of policy formulation, planning and decision-making. The assessment of threats to agriculture or “agricultural risks” is a necessary first step in designing effective risk reduction measures for food security. Hazard, vulnerability and risk assessments or mapping are some of the practical tools that have been developed and applied throughout many countries over the years as the basis for planning appropriate disaster risk reduction policies and practices, and increasingly to inform sustainable land-use planning and development investments. Such tools can also serve to inform planning for adaptation and climate smart agriculture,

especially considering that effective strategies can only be achieved by understanding the risks already facing farmers. Hazard maps delineate the geographic areas exposed to a specific type of hazard, such as floods, earthquakes, drought or tsunamis, typically indicating the likelihood or probability of occurrence, frequency and potential severity or magnitude. Hazard maps are based on historical data and knowledge of past events in the same location. Vulnerability mapping identifies the elements exposed to hazards that may be adversely affected – populations, property, agricultural areas, livelihoods, services, health facilities, etc. Vulnerability assessments may also include social or economic dimensions, including livelihoods. Risk is determined through the combined analysis of potential hazards and existing conditions of vulnerability. Hazard and risk maps can be developed at different spatial scales to display the risk distribution across geographical areas that can be site or local specific, encompass municipal or provincial administrative areas, other sub-national landscapes such as river basins, or they can be national and even regional in scope.

Figure 1:Risk Assessment and Mapping

Methodologies and tools used in hazard and risk assessment and mapping vary considerably but some of the most advanced follow an all hazards-all risks approach. Effective planning needs to always consider all spatially relevant hazards and not limit their focus on only

one hazard or threat. Mapping multiple risk scenarios at different spatial scales is key to understanding the various hazards affecting the same exposed geographic area or landscape. This makes it possible to assess the cumulative consequences and the potentially

interacting elements of hazards. For instance, some areas may be prone to drought during the dry season but also to floods during the wet season, with important implications for the design of appropriate risk reduction and adaptation measures. It also reduces the likelihood that efforts to safeguard against one type of hazard will not be lost to another hazard, or increase vulnerability to other hazards. For instance, regulations that seek to protect socio-economic investments against floods, such as safe location or flood-

resistant infrastructure, will only provide a partial solution unless it safeguards against earthquakes in areas that are also prone to seismic activity. Risk assessment and mapping provide an effective tool for spatial planning and to inform sound decisions. Figure 2

below shows an example of the comprehensive multi-hazard risk assessment framework used in Nepal to inform risk reduction measures

23. The assessment included a hazard assessment of earthquakes, floods, droughts, landslides and other hazards at the

national level based on historical information, with maps indicating the spatial distribution of hazards in the country, followed by an analysis of exposure, vulnerability and risk of various physical, social and infrastructural assets, including agriculture.Figure 2: Risk

Assessment and Mapping Framework, Nepal

21 The State of Food Insecurity in the World. 2008. FAO 22 Ibid 23 Nepal Risk Assessment Part II: Exposure, Vulnerability and Risk Assessment. Government of Nepal.

Hazards Vulnerability Risk

Used to inform:

DRR-specific plans

CCA-specific plans CSA strategies

Land-use or

territorial planning

Development

investments

Post-disaster

recovery planning

7

In Bicol region, Philippines local-level planning for disaster risk reduction was based on the use of a multi-hazard assessment to identify the threats to agriculture as well as the farming practices that made farmers more vulnerable to natural hazards. It was instrumental in the selection of the most appropriate technologies and practices. Case Study 1: Multi-hazard Assessment for DRR in Bicol Region, Philippines

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As a planning measure, one DRR project implemented by FAO in Bicol region conducted a situation assessment in pilot areas as a starting point to evaluate: 1) the physical/environmental context and local hazards, 2) the socio economic conditions, and livelihoods and agricultural land use; 3) the existing vulnerability of vulnerable groups, their capacity and coping strategies and their existing agricultural practices (crops, livestock, fisheries, forestry, homestead, etc.); and 4) the local institutional DRM systems. The multi-hazard assessment identified 8 types of threats to agriculture, including geological and climate-related hazards, and assessed the level of risk and impact of each. As indicated in the diagram, when the intensity level goes up and further from the center the greater is the hazard and its impact on the elements at risk.

24 Strengthening Capacities for Climate Risk Management and Disaster Preparedness in Selected Provinces of the Philippines (Bicol Region) TCP/PHI/3203 (D): situation assessment report. FAO and Philippine Department of Agriculture. 2010.

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In addition to identifying the types of threats to agriculture, the assessment in Bicol identified farming practices that made farmers more vulnerable to hazards, such as the use of inappropriate crop varieties or incorrect timing for planting.

The value of risk assessment is well recognized and a number of countries have institutionalized their use as the basis for planning risk reduction strategies. For instance South Africa’s policy framework on DRM underscores the importance of disaster risk assessment to guide national, provincial and municipal disaster risk reduction efforts, by requiring all national organs of state to carry out disaster risk assessments to identify priority disaster risks relevant to their functional areas and by committing to develop “a national standard for conducting comprehensive disaster risk assessments, including guidelines for the application of a uniform disaster risk assessment methodology and approach, as well as the standardization of reporting formats for disaster risk assessments”

25. The disaster

management model in Bangladesh is another example as illustrated below.

25 A policy framework for disaster risk management in South Africa

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Case Study 2: The Standardized Community Risk Assessment Model in Bangladesh 26

Bangladesh promotes the use of scientific analysis, including climate change impacts, as the basis for accurately determining the future risk environment relative to all hazards, all sectors and all geographical areas. The country’s Disaster Management Model gives priority to defining the risk environment as the basis for developing “risk treatment options”. In this model, defining the risk environment involves:

Understanding the social, political and community environment (establishing the context);

Establishing the likely threats (identifying hazards and risks)

Understanding the likelihood and consequences (analyze the risks)

Rank risks in priority (evaluate risks)

What can be done to eliminate, reduce or manage risk (identify risk treatment strategies).

The Ministry of Food and Disaster Management executed a Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP) as a national multi-hazard, multi-sector and multi-stakeholder strategy to build the capacity of local authorities and their communities to understand disaster management, assess risk, and provide local funding to implement priority disaster risk reduction measures. The CDMP supports local authorities and Union Disaster Management Committees to conduct standard community risk assessments (CRA) using participatory processes that identify, analyze and evaluate hazards, risks and vulnerabilities combining local knowledge with scientific data and predictions. The assessments follow an all-hazards - all-risks approach, and are used to inform the formulation of risk reduction plans and development projects. Guidelines for Community Risk Assessment (CRA) and for risk reduction Action Planning Procedures have been developed to facilitate this process. Roughly 611 union action plans have been prepared following these guidelines

27. The CRA process is considered a successful example that can be replicated across all risk environments, and the intention

is to expand its use across the country. The application of risk assessments for various planning objectives is increasingly growing, and is now used to inform land-use planning and territorial development, urban planning, the design of public infrastructure, and for scenario analysis and disaster preparedness, among other. Some countries are starting to apply risk assessments to development planning and public investment. Peru has been one of the pioneering countries in the Latin American region to formally incorporate disaster risk into the National System for Public Investment. A legal framework now requires disaster risk to be included into the evaluation criteria for public investment projects, and the approval of financing rests on this evaluation to ensure they are not vulnerable to future disasters

28. To support the mainstreaming

of disaster risk reduction into the National Public Investment System, particularly the project development and approval cycle, Peru’s Ministry of the Economy and Finance (MEF) has developed standard methodologies and tools for national and local public institutions and government authorities. This includes an analysis of the location of public investments, of its potential exposure to risks identified and of the factors that can make them vulnerable. In post-disaster situations, risk assessment is being used to guide prospective disaster risk management measures, such as sustainable land-use planning in the recovery process. It enables sound spatial planning to prevent the reconstruction of infrastructure in high risk areas exposed to recurrent natural hazards. Following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the Office of the Special Envoy in partnership with government and other international organizations, undertook a rapid multi-hazard analysis to map flood, wind, tsunami, landslide and earthquake risks in the affected areas, and use the results to guide the safe positioning of transitional shelters and to support longer-term recovery efforts. In Chile and Mexico it is used to establish prerequisites for their Global Catastrophe Mutual Bonds, and in the Pacific Islands to determine the viability of financial risk pooling opportunities.

2.3 Combining risk assessment and climate change scenarios for effective CSA As highlighted in module 2, climate-smart agriculture proposes a shift away from single-objective production systems to the management of landscapes with multiple objectives, which entails integrated planning and management. Risk assessments and mapping as described above can be instrumental for achieving this goal. Integrated landscape management requires an understanding of all natural hazards affecting a given landscape combined with an assessment of the potential impact of climate change on agricultural systems in the same landscape.

26 Local Governments and Disaster Risk Reduction: Good Practices and Lessons Learned. ISDR. 2010. 27 Djalante R. et al. “Linking Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation: comparing experiences from

developed and developing countries”, in Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation: Case Studies from South and Southeast Asia. Studies of the University: Research, Counsel, Education, Publication Series of UNU-EHS. No. 14. 2010. 28 Local Governments and Disaster Risk Reduction: Good Practices and Lessons Learned. ISDR. 2010.

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This blended approach provides the evidence-base to support countries at national or local level to design holistic climate smart agricultural policies, strategies and practices, based on geographic-specific assessments of current disaster risks and future climate change scenarios. For this it is necessary to develop a harmonized framework integrating data and analysis of natural hazards with projected climate change scenarios using computer modeling. Doing so allows for a short, medium and longer term perspective with appropriate measures along the same time-scale. Recent risk assessment approaches that combine with climate change models may inform future practice and innovation to support climate-smart agriculture. One pilot example is illustrated below for Jamaica.

Case Study 3: Jamaica -the Risk and Vulnerability Assessment Methodology (RiVAMP)

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Jamaica is exposed to frequent meteorological hazards, particularly hurricanes, and as a small island state it is highly exposed to sea level rise which could exacerbate the secondary impacts of tropical cyclones along the coast. At the same time, Jamaica’s tourism industry and growing population exert pressures on its diverse ecosystems and rich biodiversity. A Risk and Vulnerability Assessment Methodology (RiVAMP) was piloted in Negril on the western coast of Jamaica, as an evidence-based assessment tool to assist national and local decision makers in making informed choices that reduce risk and support sustainable development through improved ecosystems management. In particular, the project targeted land-use and spatial development planners, as well as key actors in natural resource management and disaster management. RiVAMP is innovative in that it is a risk assessment method that integrates climate change and environmental considerations, including ecosystems degradation, in the assessment process. The project examined the impacts of tropical cyclones and their secondary effects, particularly storm surges and flooding, as well as the potential impacts of climate change under rising sea level conditions. Environmental features were analyzed to determine the extent to which coral reefs and sea grasses serve as a natural protective barrier for shorelines against storm surges and sea level rise. The RiVAMP used a blend of proven scientific methods, such as risk mapping with the use of Geographic Information System (GIS), satellite imagery analysis and other remote sensing techniques, statistical analysis and modeling the buffering effects of coastal ecosystems (coral and sea grass) under conditions of sea level rise and storm surges. The science-based analysis was complemented by stakeholder interviews and consultation workshops. Maps of Negril Pilot Area

Flood hazard map Fifty-year return period exposure for a) population, b) assets

29

Linking Ecosystems to Risk and Vulnerability Reduction: The Case of Jamaica. UNEP. 2010.

11

Distribution and location of coastal ecosystems.

GIS mapping and analysis assisted in the computation of exposure to storm surge and flooding associated with tropical cyclones, including the population distribution, infrastructure and other assets exposed. Remote sensing used high resolution satellite images and aerial photographs from 1968 to determine the types and distribution of coastal ecosystems, especially coral and sea grasses, and to inform the analysis of coastline erosion due to tropical cyclones and sea level rise. In order to assess the range of shoreline retreat of Negril beaches under various rates of sea level rise and storm surges, an ensemble of six widely-used, numerical models were applied. Multiple regression analysis was used in order to identify the positive influence of coral reefs and sea grass meadows on the observed beach erosion patterns along the Negril coastline. Estimations based on global projections of long-term or accelerated sea level rise (ASLR) together with local predictions of extreme storm waves and surges showed that, by 2060, the combination of ASLR and extreme wave surges will have a devastating impact on Negril’s beaches and the coastal infrastructure behind it, with significant implications for risk reduction and adaptation planning. The pilot method of RiVAMP was intended for Small Island Development States which share similar risks as Jamaica, and holds potential for other island states highly exposed to sea level rise.

For climate-smart agriculture, there are opportunities to build on the growing resources available for multi-hazard risk assessment and mapping. The Probabilistic Risk Assessment Initiative (CAPRA) is an example of a state-of-the-art open-source multi-hazard tool for risk assessment and visualization, with a platform that integrates databases with exposure and physical vulnerability data and functions. It facilitates the evaluation of risk in terms of physical damage and direct economic and human losses in standard risk metrics to visualize hazards and risk on geographical information systems (GIS). CAPRA was developed by Latin American experts and governments with the support of the Central American Coordination Centre for Disaster Prevention (CEPREDENAC), in partnership with a number of international organizations. A second example is the large collection of geospatial information on disaster risks available for Pacific Island Countries (PICs), through the Pacific Risk Information System (PacRIS) platform, which includes detailed country-specific information on hazards, assets, population, and risks for 15 countries in the region. It contains the most comprehensive analysis of building, infrastructure, and cash crop exposure for the region

30.

III. Building on Community-based Approaches to DRR and Adaptation Climate-smart agriculture promotes integrated planning and management at many levels, including local site-specific landscapes. The DRR and CCA communities of practice have mutually complementary community-based approaches that can support CSA planning at the local level. In spite of their inter-connectedness, however, community-based disaster risk management (CBDRM) and community-based adaptation (CBA) are often implemented separately. This may present a challenge, yet it is possible for CSA to articulate both community-based approaches and harness the benefits of a blended approach. Community-Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) was developed in the 1980s as a process in which at risk communities are actively engaged in the identification, analysis, treatment, monitoring and evaluation of disaster risks in order to reduce their

30 Improving the Assessment of Disaster Risks to Strengthen Financial Resilience. G2012, World Bank. 2012.

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vulnerabilities and enhance their capacities. Communities participate in decision making and implementation, including the most vulnerable. In the CBDRM process, the assessment of hazard exposure and analysis of vulnerabilities and capacities, discussed in the previous section, forms the basis for activities, projects and programs to reduce disaster risks

31.

Community-based adaptation (CBA) to climate change has evolved more recently and has been applied to promote adaptation in the agriculture sector. CBA shares a similar definition and approach to that of CBDRM. It is understood as “a community-led process, based on communities’ priorities, needs, knowledge, and capacities, which should empower people to plan for and cope with the impacts of climate change”

32.

Given the subsequent evolution and distinct history of climate change adaptation, CBA and CBDRM are differentiated in practice through separate projects and funding supported by governments and international institutions. Yet, the need for an integrated approach is clear at the local community level where multiple risks converge and threaten the lives and livelihoods of households and farming communities, and where solutions in risk reduction and adaptation in agriculture can be mutually reinforcing. CBDRM and CBA share the common objective of enhancing livelihood resilience at the local levels, the same bottoms-up grassroots approach, the target population and the participatory methods applied at community level. CSA should build on the valuable opportunities found in the short and long term measures that CBDRM and CBA offer through joint projects and partnerships at local level. Through existing CBDRM practices, CSA can support measures that address known and urgent risks, which farmers already prioritize since short-term risk reduction solutions provide more immediate tangible results, especially if directly linked to existing threats and family food security. For local authorities support to short-term risk reduction measures is more viable than investing in adaptation against future uncertainties. At the same time, CBA projects complement by addressing the longer-term impact of climate change in the same locations with innovative measures. This may include bringing scientific knowledge and climate change data and predictions to communities which would otherwise not have access to it. It may also involve addressing emerging risks associated with climate change, such as rising temperatures, changes in rainfall patterns, sea-level rise, glacier melting and other expected changes. This blended approach informs local planning processes more holistically. It has the additional advantage of making available local institutional structures and partnerships already established for CBDRM and CBA projects, and therefore offer CSA an inclusive participatory and local governance process involving all relevant stakeholders in the local landscape. For local authorities an integrated approach removes the administrative burden and cost of managing a diversity of CBA and CBDRM projects in an environment already constrained institutionally and financially. Such win-win benefits optimize resources and make aid more cost effective. While practice with linking CBDRM and CBA still needs to be explored further, the example below of Papua New Guinea provides a practical framework that demonstrates the potential and value of combining DRR and CCA at community level to guide future agricultural practice. Case Study 4: Integrated Community Approaches to DRR & CCA in Papua New Guinea

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In Papua New Guinea (PNG) the community-based framework for addressing disaster risk reduction, previously developed with some indigenous communities in PNG, was used and adjusted to address also climate change at the village level.

The original community-based framework for DRR used participatory techniques such as guided discovery, mapping exercises, timelines and matrix rankings to collect information from community members on village history, hazards and event timelines, maps, and environmental and social trends. This baseline information was used to identify with communities the underlying vulnerability factors, both external and internal. Lastly, communities identified past and present indigenous and scientific strategies used to cope with the internal vulnerability factors identified, and prioritized possible risk and vulnerability reduction strategies. This DRR framework addressed floods, storms, landslides, and volcanic eruptions, and addressed short-term DRR needs. The framework was then used as a practical entry point for discussing why and how communities are also vulnerable to climate change and what measures could be taken to address these challenges. The concerns and priorities of communities identified in the original DRR framework were combined with global climate change causes and trends linked to the local context. For instance, the assessment

31 Community-based Disaster Risk Management: Field Practitioners Handbook. 2004. 32 Community-based Adaptation to Climate Change. IIED. 2009. 33 Kelman et al, “Combining Different Knowledges: Community-Based Climate Change Adaptation in Small Island Developing States”, in Participatory Learning and Action 60: Community-based Adaptation to Climate Change. IIED. 2009.

13

of climate change impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation on SIDS prepared by CICERO and UNEP was used as a baseline34

. External scientific information on the historical and potential future consequences of climate variability and change were integrated, such as satellite observations and downscaled climate projections for short- and long-term scenarios. Invasive species, for instance, were identified as an additional threat that could change the pest or disease profile of local agricultural systems. To identify indigenous strategies for reducing vulnerability to climate change, the focus was on determining how local communities responded to longer-term changes in the past. The combined community-based framework for DRR and CCA articulates local and global topics, especially by linking community knowledge with external scientific information and approaches. The result was a combination of short-term solutions such as appropriate cropping patterns and land use, with external knowledge for longer-term solutions such as to identify suitable crops not known or grown locally. In identifying community goals and priorities the focus is on community needs, and by connecting these to local and global situation analyses, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction are supported simultaneously. CBDRM offers a proven bottoms-up approach. The expansion and institutionalization of CBDRM in many parts of Asia and Latin America offers a wide platform for CSA to build on. In some Asian countries, for instance, CBDRM has been institutionalized and mainstreamed. The Philippines, Viet Nam and Cambodia have developed national strategic plans on CBDRM for legislative and executive approval, with a wide-range of key stakeholders to ensure support and institutionalization, including top level government leaders, related line ministries, NGOs with disaster management activities, local governments, grass-roots organizations, donors and agencies, among others

35. In addition, progress has been made in mainstreaming CBDRM into socio-economic development policies to build the

resilience of communities in Southeast Asia, including action plans at national, sub-national and local levels to support CBDRM36

. In the Philippines CBDRM is practiced nationwide and in Vietnam it evolved since the early 1990s to become an example of good practice, with strong involvement and commitment from local and national governments

37. Recently the government of Vietnam approved a national

program on CBDRM aiming to establish CBDRM initiatives in 6,000 most vulnerable communes and villages throughout the country by 2020, a decision that will significantly up-scale CBDRM throughout Vietnam

38. These robust enabling environments for CBDRM can

support community-based efforts in climate smart agriculture.

IV. Up-scaling Proven Technologies and Practices for Resilient Livelihoods

4.1 Building on and expanding DRR knowledge and practice in agriculture Climate-smart agriculture promotes the application of proven practices and approaches and recognizes the need for scale. This section shows that traditional knowledge and practice in disaster risk reduction offers a resource pool from which to draw proven know-how and technologies that are effective in building resilient livelihoods. These good practices can support the horizontal up-scaling of CSA. Research demonstrates that indigenous peoples hold an enormous diversity of traditional crop varieties, practices and knowledge, and that these play an important part in building resilience to climate change

39. Five types of traditional knowledge systems can be useful

for adaptation in agriculture40

: 1. Resilient properties: resilient crop species and varieties for adaptation. 2. Plant breeding: conserving local landraces and selecting seeds for preferred and adaptive characteristics 3. Wild crop relatives: for crop improvement and domestication as well as to supplement diets 4. Farming practices: water, soil or pest management, erosion control and land restoration 5. Climate forecasting: traditional knowledge can forecast weather and predict extreme events

34 CICERO and UNEP/GRID-Arendal (2008). Many Strong Voices: Outline for an assessment project design. CICERO Report 2008:05. CICERO (Center for International Climate and Environmental Research, Oslo), Oslo, Norway and UNEP/GRID, Arendal, Norway. 35 From Regional Experiences on the Integration of CBDRM into the Local Development Planning in South East Asia. EC, UNESCAP, ADPC. 2008. 36 From Regional Experiences on the Integration of CBDRM into the Local Development Planning in South East Asia. EC, UNESCAP, ADPC. 2008. 37 CBDRM and Poverty Reduction. EC, UNESCAP, ADPC. 38 http://www.unisdr.org/archive/20925 39 “Protecting and promoting the rights of indigenous people benefits us all”. IIED. 2011. 40 Adapting agriculture with traditional Knowledge: Briefing. IIED. 2011.

14

Resilience has been a natural evolving process in many societies, to absorb shocks and adjust to changes that impact on people’s livelihoods

41. Numerous case studies on indigenous knowledge of risk reduction have been documented

42. In many regions of the

world, for instance, a diversity of rainwater harvesting and management practices has evolved over millennia to cope with climate variability, particularly drought. In South Asia, rainwater harvesting dates back over 8000 years. In India alone, more than 1.5 million traditional village tanks, ponds and earthen embankments harvest rainwater in 660,000 villages across the country

43.

Also, in the Andes mixed farming systems, agricultural diversity and crop biodiversity are practices that have evolved over time as farmers adjusted to natural shifting environmental conditions. For generations, local farmers have domesticated, improved and conserved traditional crop species and varieties. In Peru, where about 4000 varieties of potatoes are grown, the conservation and cultivation of a rich diversity of potatoes is well recognized as an effective traditional technology for reducing the risk of loss and for protecting against pests and diseases. Farmers can identify the varieties which have the capacity to resist drought, cold temperatures or frost. Planting in a diversity of altitudes and terrains also contributes to the conservation of potato varieties and helps to ensure that crops survive in some locations even when they fail in others

44.

In the rangelands of the Horn of Africa, pastoralism emerged thousands of years ago and has evolved and adjusted since then as a response to weather uncertainty. It is a resilient livelihood mechanism capable of coping with the harsh environment of arid and semi-arid lands and of optimizing the use of its natural resources, a means to manage risk and conserve their resource base

45: “Pastoralism is

highly compatible with conservation and makes the most of livestock production opportunities within variable and unpredictable rangeland ecosystems. Pastoral strategies of herd diversity, flexibility and mobility are rational and crucial for survival in risk prone environments and are based on the need to respond rapidly to changing climatic and vegetative conditions”

46.

Government investments in disaster risk reduction have also increased over the past several decades, and these provide examples of effective practice that can be replicated. In India, the government has adopted a number of national programmes for reducing the impact of drought, such as the Drought Prone Areas Programme introduced in 1973 and the Desert Development Programme initiated in 1977-78, and the Watershed Programme which is seen as a key vehicle for drought proofing in rainfed areas. The country has introduced specific schemes, such as the Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme initiated in 1985 to “provide a measure of financial support to farmers in the event of crop failure due to droughts, floods etc.”

47.

Case Study 5: Local Practices in Hazard Risk Management in Jamaica

48

In Jamaica, regions affected yearly by hurricanes, floods and landslides utilize trees such as bamboo, coconuts, grass, growstick, hibiscus, lumber trees, sugar cane, pineapple and other fruit trees as a water velocity reduction strategy to enhance slope stability and reduce landslide susceptibility. Reduced runoff also helps to reduce or mitigate inundation in the lower lands. To regulate soil moisture farmers utilize larger trees with high moisture absorption capacity, such as lumber trees, planting them in waterlogged areas of farms to reduce the probability of flooding. Lumber trees have commercial value and generate income as well.

41 Pandey, D.N., Gupta, A.K., and Anderson, D.M. Rainwater harvesting as an adaptation to climate change. Current Science. 85(1): 46-59. 2003; Indigenous and Traditional Peoples and Climate Change. Issues Paper. IUCN. 2008. 42 See for example: Indigenous Knowledge for Disaster Risk Reduction in South Asia. SAARC Disaster Management Center. 2008; and Disaster Risk Reduction: Good Practices and Lessons Learned from Experiences in the Asia-Pacific Region. ISDR, European Union, Kyoto University. 2008. 43 Pandey, D.N., Gupta, A.K., and Anderson, D.M. Rainwater harvesting as an adaptation to climate change. Current Science. 85(1): 46-59. 2003; Indigenous and Traditional Peoples and Climate Change. Issues Paper. IUCN. 2008. 44 Climate Change in Peru: the local experiences. European Commission, Practical Action. 2010. 45 Harnessing Pastoralists’ Indigenous Range Management Knowledge for Drought -Resilient Livelihood Systems in the Horn of Africa. WISP, IUCN, FAO. 2009; and Pastoralism and climate change: Enabling adaptive capacity. HPG Synthesis Paper. 2009. 46 Pastoralists as Shrewd Managers of Risk and Resilience in the Horn of Africa. WISP, GEF, UNDP, IUCN. WISP Policy Brief No. 4. 2007. 47 “Agricultural Drought Management in India”. B. Venkateswarlu. SAARC Workshop on Drought Risk Management in South Asia. SAARC. 2010; and Manual for Drought Management. India Ministry of Agriculture. 2009. 48 Good Practices for Hazard Risk Management in Agriculture: Summary Report Jamaica. FAO. 2008.

15

Water tolerant crops such as dasheen are planted in waterlogged areas to reduce water velocity and thereby prevent damage to more valuable crops. Along the edges of drains and other waterways water tolerant crops serve to stabilize banks and prevent the spread of floodwater. Governor grass (Vetiveria zizanoides) is planted along the riverbank to reduce the potential loss of land, crops and homes to the river during flooding.

An extensive number of technologies and practices are implemented to reduce the vulnerability and build the resilience of farming systems. Crop diversification, crop insurance schemes, drought or flood tolerant crop varieties, hazard-proof grain storage facilities and livestock shelters, strategic fodder reserves, bio-security of animal production systems, resilient animal breeding, and water reserves to buffer droughts are some of the many examples

49. Because of their adaptive value, many of these practices are also promoted by

adaptation strategies. Some technologies serve multiple functions as well, such as conservation agriculture, an approach promoted for both risk reduction and adaptation because it is particularly suitable for areas with low soil productivity and under difficult climatic conditions, such as drought and rainfall irregularity, yet it is also seen as an approach to manage agro-ecosystems for improved and sustained productivity and food security while preserving and enhancing the resource base and the environment

50.

Technologies and practices promoted by DRR and CCA can be delivered as a coherent package of solutions to climate variability and change, and CSA can provide the common platform that brings together these measures. At the same time it can achieve significant scale by adopting and promoting DRR practices that are already field tested and proven for building resilient livelihoods. Given the longer history of DRR practice, these validated practices offer a large portfolio and the evidence base for significantly up-scaling CSA. Designing CSA initiatives should begin with mapping existing local-specific good practice. One challenge is to identify those which are effective across different landscapes and in relation to different types of hazards. Where DRR technologies are known and proven to be effective locally, they can serve as immediate entry points to CSA. Up-scaling proven risk reduction practice can be achieved through policies that support their systematic expansion. Nepal provides a good example of a country that has developed an integrated strategy for addressing disaster risks and climate change, and which identifies knowledge sharing and knowledge management as a core priority, as further illustrated in the case study below.

49 Resilient Livelihoods: Disaster Risk Reduction for Food and Nutrition Security. FAO. 2011. 50 Evaluation of Supporting Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (CA for SARD) Phase II (GCP/RAF/413/GER) Report. FAO. 2011.

16

Case Study 6: Nepal’s Strategy on Knowledge Sharing and Management in CCA and DRR

51

Nepal’s Priority Framework for Action on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management in Agriculture, represents an innovative policy framework addressing CCA and DRR in an integrated and coherent manner. The framework recognizes the existence of good practice technologies and approaches, and the vital importance of knowledge sharing. The following is a summary of the framework’s strategy in knowledge management. Priority Area III: Improved knowledge management, database and awareness-raising on climate change impacts, adaptation and disaster risk management. Objective: Use knowledge to build a culture of innovation, and resilience, and institutionalize training on climate change adaptation and disaster risk management in agriculture. Some key activities planned: Local level awareness raising campaigns and training programs for farmers on lessons learned and best practices of DRM, sustainable

land management and climate change adaptation; Develop information centers for documentation of local knowledge, risks and vulnerabilities at village development committees and

district level; Good practice database (includes indigenous and local practices) relevant to agriculture and livestock for climate change adaptation

and DRM established at national level and dissemination at local level; Integrate climate change, DRM and sustainable land management into farmer field schools and promote agricultural extension

systems to demonstrate and disseminate good practices; Promote establishment of model demonstrations at regional research centers by involving local communities to showcase relevant

good practice examples on climate change adaptation and disaster risk management; Organize periodical capacity development and knowledge sharing sessions with staff, local institutions and farmers on relevant

aspects of climate change adaptation and disaster risk management; Dissemination of tested good practice examples of climate change adaptation and disaster risk management. Scale can also be gained through existing local, national and even regional networks, knowledge fairs, and through south-south cooperation. Within traditional societies, the transfer of indigenous knowledge and technologies is limited by oral communication and confined to local groups, requiring external support for wider sharing of proven practices if it is to have significant impact. Extension programmes and farmer organizations are recognized as viable cost-effective vehicles for the sharing of knowledge, the transfer of technology and know-how, and capacity building. For instance, in Peru the Association for Nature and Sustainable Development (ANDES) is an indigenous NGO that has contributed to the establishment of the protected areas known as Indigenous Biocultural Heritage Areas (IBCHAs), of which the Potato Park was the first. The Potato Park brings six Quechua communities together to protect a 12,000 hectare area as a micro center of origin of the potato and other native Andean crops. ANDES works in close collaboration with formal and informal Quechua technicians in researching, training and developing adaptive management models for indigenous biocultural heritage, and organize South-South learning exchanges in the Potato Park for the design and implementation of indigenous biocultural territories as agrobiodiversity conservation areas

52.

Moreover, CSA brings a fresh opportunity to tackle some long-standing challenges. For instance, there has been inadequate investment made to support and strengthen the coping capacity of pastoralists in the Horn of Africa, partly the result of the underestimated value of pastoralist systems as a viable way of life, political marginalization, and adverse policies and practice such as modernization or restrictions on their mobility and access to key natural resources

53. Yet, the resilience of pastoralist livelihoods remains an untapped

potential that can be strengthened through CSA as an effective measure against the rise in temperature and the increase in the incidence of drought expected over the next four decades, based on the regional climate projections for East Africa. As one study shows: “...of all the natural resource-based land uses in the drylands, pastoralism functions best within the prevalent context of wide rainfall variability and unpredictability... [It] has an important role to play where other livelihoods are likely to fail... Evidence suggests that…it would be more effective to enable and strengthen the inherent adaptive capacity of pastoralists, finding ways to encourage

51 Priority Framework for Action on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management in Agriculture: 2011-2020. Nepal Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, FAO, UNDP. 2012. 52 Association ANDES: Conserving Indigenous Biocultural Heritage in Peru. IIED. 2008. 53 Pastoralists’ Vulnerability in the Horn of Africa: Exploring Political Marginalization, Donors’ Policies, and Cross-Border Issues. Literature Review. HPG. 2009; and Drylands – an Economic Asset for Rural Livelihoods and Economic Growth. IIED. IUCN. UNDP. 2008.

17

their autonomous adaptation... Pastoralism is a rational use of the drylands. Pastoralists respond to and use, even choose and profit from, variability. This allows for a vibrant and productive livelihood system in some of the harshest landscapes in the world”

54.

4.2 Combining DRR knowledge with CCA innovation for resilient adaptation In addition to the horizontal expansion of indigenous knowledge and risk reduction practices as one valuable measure to advance adaptation and CSA, there are other opportunities and benefits for combining DRR and CSA efforts. Climate change presents emerging risks which are not addressed by risk reduction measures, for example sea-level rise, temperature increases or the expected spread of plant pests and diseases. In some cases, local knowledge is viable for reducing risks but insufficient to cope with climate change, and therefore needs to be combined with scientific know-how, research and technological innovations. In practice, the combined application of DRR and CCA technologies are still few. The example below of potatoes in the Andes illustrates ways in which traditional and risk reduction practices can be effectively combined with new adaptive technologies. Case Study 7: Building the Resilience and Adaptive Capacity of Potatoes in the Andes

55

In some regions of the world, climate change is expected to increase plant diseases and pests on potato production, and this is already being observed in some cases. Late blight, the fungus responsible for the Irish potato famine in the 1800s, is expected to expand into new areas previously free of this disease. In addition, temperature increase puts additional pressure on the potato’s wild relatives. 16–22% of all wild potato species are threatened with extinction by the year 2055, an urgent problem given the importance of wild relatives as gene pools for breeding new varieties. Potatoes constitute the fourth most important food crop after rice, wheat and maize, and vital to the diet and livelihood of millions of people worldwide. Therefore, although Andean communities have demonstrated resilience to adverse weather and to the changing environment, additional assistance can help to strengthen this capacity while also bridging science with traditional knowledge to produce critically important innovative solutions. One project by Association Andes supports potato farmers in the Andes through the protection of traditional knowledge and conservation efforts that prevent the disappearance of potato varieties from local fields and ensure farmers have more options for dealing with the impact of climate change. The project has: Conserved 1345 accessions of local potatoes through the Potato Park communities; Designed and established a database of native potatoes, traditional knowledge and climate change; Gathered information on the effects of climate change on the cultivation of local potato varieties; Documented traditional knowledge about climate change and extreme events; Transferred land for the construction of the Centre for Traditional Knowledge and Native Potatoes in the Potato Park. Another new potato breeding initiative in Bolivia is helping local farmers cope with the increasingly shorter rainy seasons and consequent decrease in production yields. The project, implemented by the International Potato Center (IPC) and the Fundación para Promoción e Investigación de Productos Andinos (PROINPA) aims to breed potato varieties that are better adapted to the short rainy season while maintaining yields, testing with farmers new varieties in the field and under real conditions. The IPC, together with local organizations, is evaluating the genetic resources of its potato collection, and those of new varieties still in the process of being bred, in relation to their tolerance to water and temperature stress. The IPC draws on the world’s largest genetic reservoir of potato varieties: its genebank contains 5000 distinct types of cultivated potatoes, as well as more than 2000 wild relatives of the potato belonging to around 140 wild species. The goal is to identify the desired key characteristics and genes that determine tolerance of abiotic stress. Climate change and other factors that increase pressure on ecosystems are threatening the existence of many wild relatives. The establishment and maintenance of genebanks is intended to curb the loss of this diversity in varieties. To date, the IPC has repatriated over 400 native potatoes varieties among communities across the Andes. The long-term aim is to establish community genebanks to ensure that the genetic resources underpinning the food supply are secured.

DRR and CCA converge in one vital area: the importance of an ecosystem approach and of sustainable natural resource management in strengthening resilience. DRR recognizes the inherent inter-connectedness between the environment and natural hazards

56.

Deforestation, degradation of catchments/watersheds, degradation of land and desertification, depletion of reefs and coastal

54 Pastoralism and climate change: Enabling adaptive capacity. HPG Synthesis Paper. 2009. 55 Potatoes and Climate Change. InfoResources: Focus No 1/08. 2008: and Peruvian “guardians” lead Potato Park to a secure future. FAO, The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. 56 Living with Risk. UNISDR. 2004.

18

ecosystems especially of corals and mangroves, among other factors, reduce nature’s defense capacity against climate-related hazards and aggravate the impact of disasters such as floods, landslides, storm surges, hurricanes and drought

57. On upland watersheds, for

instance, deforestation and destruction of the protective cover of vegetation can lead to accelerated soil erosion, reducing the soil’s water-retention capacity and making it more prone to flooding, and to landslides in sloping land. Eroded material may be transported downslope into rivers and streams, choking channels with gravel, sand and sediments, which may influence the frequency and severity of flooding and increase downstream damage

58. Disasters in turn contribute to ecosystem degradation and loss, including

deforestation, declining rangeland quality, salinization of soils, and biodiversity loss. The 2004 Asian Tsunami damaged approximately 20 percent of sea grass beds, 25-35 percent of wetlands, about 60,000 hectares of agricultural land, 32,000 ha of mangroves, and 48,925 hectares of coastal forests in the island of Sumatra

59. Increasing environmental degradation reduces the availability of goods and

services to local communities, shrinks economic opportunities and livelihood options, and ultimately contributes to greater food insecurity and hunger

60.

Effective risk reduction depends significantly on the ability to promote sound environmental and natural resource management practices and the sustainable use of ecosystems. Healthy and diverse ecosystems are more resilient to natural hazards. Forests and reforestation are used as shelterbelts and windbreaks, and play an important role in protecting against landslides, floods and avalanches. Trees stabilize riverbanks and mitigate soil erosion, while wetlands serve to store water, provide storm protection, flood mitigation, shoreline stabilization and erosion control

61. There are numerous examples worldwide of ecosystem approaches promoted

by risk reduction measures. Bangladesh has invested in coastal afforestation since the 1960s to reduce the impact of cyclones and tidal surges through coastal green belts such as mangroves; in the watersheds of the Suchiate, Coatán and Cahoacán Rivers on the border area between the department of San Marcos, Guatemala, and the state of Chiapas, Mexico, integrated watershed management is helping to restore ecosystems through soil conservation and sustainable agricultural practices, to reverse watershed degradation, secure water supply to settlements, agriculture and livestock downstream, and reduce the risk of devastating floods caused by tropical storms and hurricanes; Sri Lanka’s Road Map for Disaster Risk Reduction outlines a range of activities that integrate both risk reduction and environmental management objectives, including the integration of DRR in environmental impact assessments and promoting coastal vegetation or green belts

62.

Recognizing this inter-connectedness, the Hyogo Framework for Action identifies as one of its five Priorities for Action the reduction of the underlying risk factors: disaster risks related to changing social, economic, environmental conditions and land use, and the impact of hazards associated with geological events, weather, water, climate variability and climate change, are addressed in sector development planning and programmes as well as in post-disaster situations. One of the key activities emphasized under this priority is environmental and natural resource management, including the following objectives: (a) Encourage the sustainable use and management of ecosystems; (b) Implement integrated environmental and natural resource management approaches that incorporate disaster risk reduction; (c) Promote the integration of risk reduction associated with existing climate variability and future climate change into strategies for the reduction of disaster risk and adaptation to climate change

63.

Ecosystem-based approaches are also well recognized as a critical element of adaptation by the UNFCCC and constitute a fundamental pillar in climate-smart agriculture. Ecosystem services will be more vulnerable and fragile as climate change affects rainfall patterns and increases surface temperatures. Existing ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction measures can strengthen adaptation efforts under CSA. Some examples of efforts that combine DRR and CCA objectives are starting to emerge. In Mexico, for example, a large-scale coastal wetland and mangrove swamp restoration project is addressing coastal protection against hurricanes, saltwater intrusion due to sea-level rise, as well as improving local water supply and food production

64. The case study below on Uganda illustrates a watershed

management approach integrating DRR and CCA in project design. Case Study 8: Community Based Integrated Watershed Management Approach to DRR and CCA in Uganda

57 Resilient Livelihoods: Disaster Risk Reduction for Food and Nutrition Security. FAO. 2011. 58 Guidelines and Manual on Land Use Planning and Practices in Watershed Management and Disaster Risk Reduction. The

UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. 1997. 59 Environment and Reconstruction in Aceh: Two Years After the Tsunami. UNEP. 2007; After the Tsunami: Rapid Environmental Assessment, Indonesia. UNEP. 2005. 60 Resilient Livelihoods: Disaster Risk Reduction for Food and Nutrition Security. FAO. 2011. 61 Resilient Livelihoods: Disaster Risk Reduction for Food and Nutrition Security. FAO. 2011. 62 Demonstrating the Role of Ecosystems-based Management for Disaster Risk Reduction. Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (PEDRR) and The Council of Europe. 2010. 63 Hyogo Framework for Action: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters. UNISDR. 2005. 64 Demonstrating the Role of Ecosystems-based Management for Disaster Risk Reduction. Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (PEDRR) and The Council of Europe. 2010.

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Uganda is prone to droughts, floods, landslides, windstorms and hailstorms, crop and livestock diseases. The water-related hazards contribute over 90% of the natural disasters and annually destroy an average of 800,000 hectares of crops

65. These natural hazards are

exacerbated by increasing environmental degradation. The most disaster prone communities are located along the dry arid and semi-arid areas of the Cattle Corridor which stretches across North-Eastern, Central, South-West and Western Uganda. According to Uganda’s 2007 National Adaptation Program of Action, the country experienced seven drought episodes between 1991-2000

66. Also, in recent

years, floods and landslides arising from tropical cyclones and severe storms have become one of the most devastating natural hazards in Uganda. FAO Uganda is currently promoting a community-based integrated watershed management approach to planning, integrating disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) strategies and including socio-economic development, restoring the ecological integrity of the environment, and institutional capacity development. This integrated, inter-sectoral approach places the community at the center and enables them to make qualified decisions on DRR based on watershed ecosystem functions and interaction with human natural resources practices. Critical in this effort is organizing and strengthening watershed organizations, linking with District Disaster Management Committee and Village Disaster Management Committees. The approach uses farmer field schools to increase the knowledge and skills of farmers and pastoralists, to enable them to problem-solve and take their own decisions and initiatives in disaster risk reduction and adaptation. The conceptual and operational framework of community-based integrated watershed management for DRR and CCA is presented in the diagrams below. FAO conducted a week-long intensive training for District Local Government, UN and NGO personnel in Karamoja region in North Eastern Uganda to enhance their knowledge and skills in planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating community-based integrated watershed management programs. Workshop participants came from the Production and Environment/Natural Resources Departments of the Local Governments, the World Food Programme and International and Local NGOs dealing with drought preparedness, disaster management and climate change adaptation related programs and projects in the sub-region. Each district that participated developed draft action plans on how to apply and replicate the approach in their local environment. As a result of the training the Local Government of Moroto District has initiated an improved community-based watershed management program in the Musopo watershed, Rupa Sub Country. The community-based integrated watershed management approach is consistent with, and supports the current efforts of the Uganda Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE) in operationalizing a catchment–based water resources management in the country. Also, a recent Joint Programming Agreement between FAO and the WFP in Uganda is being operationalized using a community-based integrated watershed management approach in five districts of Karamoja.

The Conceptual and operational framework of Community-based integrated watershed management (CBIWM) for DRR and CCA

65 UNDP/NEMA/UNEP Poverty Environment Initiative, 2009. Enhancing the contribution of Weather, Climate and Climate

Change to Growth, Employment and Prosperity. Kampala 66

Uganda NAPA (2007) (http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/napa/uga01.pdf)

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ENTRY PHASE

(Pre-watershed

Management Phase –

Awareness, sensitization

and community mobilization)

IMPLEMENTATION PHASE

( Building Community

resilience against Disaster

risks)

PREPARATORY/

PLANNING PHASE

(Participatory Disaster Risk

Assessment and planning)

PHASING OUT/

WITHDRAWAL PHASE

(Consolidation of project

outcomes/

achievements)

First Stage Second Stage Third Stage Fourth Stage

Coordination

Disaster Risk

Reduction/CCA(Enhanced community

Resilience)

The Basic Aims of CBIWM Approach

Socio-economic

Development (creating opportunities for

Income and livelihood)

Restoring Ecological

Integrity(improving biophysical

Condition of the watershed)

Institutional

Development(strengthening community

Institutional capacity)

WDA/

VDMC/

FFS

Watershed community

Technical

Facilitating

Agency

Local

Government

(DLG and DDMC)

WDA = Watershed Development AssociationVDMC = Village Disaster Management Committee

DDMC = District Disaster Management Committee

DLG = District Local Government

FFS = Farmer Field School

The CBIWM Activities by Phases

ENTRY PHASE

(Pre-watershed

Management Phase –

Awareness, sensitization

and community mobilization)

IMPLEMENTATION PHASE

(Building Community resilience

to Disaster risks)

PREPARATORY/

PLANNING PHASE

(Participatory Disaster Risk

Assessment and planning)

PHASING OUT/

WITHDRAWAL PHASE

(Consolidation of project

outcomes/

achievements)

First Stage (2 months) Second Stage (4 months) Third Stage (24 months) Fourth Stage (6 months)

• Community orientation,

sensitization and

awareness on DRR/

CCA and watershed

management approach

• Participatory

identification of

community watershed

boundaries

• Conducting participatory

disaster risk assessment

(PDRA) including climate risk &

land degradation assessments

• Developing watershed

management and land use plan

• Developing a community-based

DRR and CC adaptation plans

using a watershed approach

• Developing community

based early warning

system

• Developing contingency Plans

Implementation of community DRR

and CC adaption plans focusing on:

• Improving bio-physical condition

of the watershed.

• Creating opportunities for

income, livelihood diversification

and distributional equity among

watershed communities

• Strengthening coordination and

institutional capacities of

watershed communities and

Farmer Field Schools for

disaster risk reduction and CCA

Further strengthening

Coordination and

linkages between

watershed DRR and CCA

community groups, Farmer

Field School and local

government Institutions and

relevant Development partners

Protecting and building the resilience of rural livelihoods from disaster risks and climate change depends largely on sustainable practices in natural resource management. In this sense, sustainable ecosystem management provides “the unifying base” for promoting disaster

21

risk reduction and climate change adaptation, maximizing opportunities for achieving livelihood security67

. As the example from Uganda illustrates, the integrated approach to watershed management necessarily brings together the participation of a diversity of stakeholders in government, civil society and in the international community in the pursuit of win-win outcomes in risk reduction and adaptation. Such joint efforts harness the diversity of expertise needed to manage natural resources, to promote sustainable livelihoods, and meet risk reduction and adaptation objectives.

V. The Enabling Framework of DRR to Support CSA 5.1 Governance: national institutional structures and policy frameworks for DRR An enabling environment and institutional partnerships are vital for achieving the multiple objectives of climate-smart agriculture and its role in the transformation of agriculture. For this reason, CSA supports the use of existing institutional arrangements, policies and incentives that enable and empower farmers to adopt climate-smart agriculture, and recognizes the importance of improved coordination for collective decision-making and action

68. This section presents elements of the existing enabling architecture for DRR

which can support CSA. Many countries have national legislations, institutional arrangements, policies and planning frameworks for disaster risk reduction. Experience over the past decades has shown that good practice in DRR requires vertical links between a national enabling environment and decentralized support and implementation with adequate resourcing. Ultimately, the success of local action depends on political will, legislative commitment, institutional structures and public investment to provide the necessary enabling environment for effective local action. The 1990s witnessed the introduction or reform of disaster risk reduction / management legislation in many countries. According to a report on the global state of disaster risk reduction, of the 119 countries reporting, 80 per cent indicated some form of legislation for disaster management

69. Legislation is binding and hence critical for ensuring accountability in DRR. Despite growing awareness and

commitment to climate change adaptation, relatively few countries have legislation on climate change to date. This provides opportunity for strengthening legislation on DRR to support adaptation and CSA, as well as to make use of this legislation as an enabling framework for CSA. Between 73 and 80 national platforms for DRR exist today globally as multi-stakeholder forums that serve as national coordinating bodies for DRR

70, a rich foundation and opportunity from which to build inter-institutional collaboration and catalyze the transformation

to CSA. National DRR systems are at the core of countries’ capacity to cope with disaster risks, and national platforms typically bring together ministries, agencies, donors, NGOs, and civil society organizations around common goals in disaster risk reduction. Many of these national DRR platforms are multi-sectoral. In Sri Lanka, the National Disaster Management Coordination Committee (NDMCC) represents 35 members from key sectors including representatives of the Ministries of Environment, Home Affairs and Agriculture, Department of National Planning, Coastal Conservation Department (CCD), Department for Irrigation, Department of Meteorology, among many others

71.

Many of the same countries with national platforms also have Strategic National Action Plans for Disaster Risk Reduction

72, which guide

the direction of risk reduction actions and set priorities at country level. Some countries have DRR structures and planning frameworks specific for the agriculture sector. Ethiopia’s Ministry of Agriculture established the Disaster Risk Management and Food Security Sector (DRMFSS) with a mandate to co-ordinate disaster prevention and preparedness activities. Jamaica developed an Agriculture Disaster Risk Management Plan and Belize a Plan of Action for Disaster Risk Reduction in Agriculture and Fisheries Sector

73. Nepal recently

developed an integrated strategy, the Priority Framework for Action on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management in Agriculture. Other national policies and plans exist in some countries which are not specifically on DRR but are closely related and support risk reduction. For instance, Namibia’s National Drought Policy and Strategy introduced in 1997, Zimbabwe’s National Policy on Drought

67 Demonstrating the Role of Ecosystems-based Management for Disaster Risk Reduction. Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (PEDRR) and The Council of Europe. 2010. 68 The Wageningen Statement: Climate-Smart Agriculture –Science for Action. 2011; “Climate-Smart” Agriculture: Policies, Practices and Financing for Food Security, Adaptation and Mitigation. FAO. 2010. 69 Summary of national information on the current status of disaster reduction, as background for the World Conference on Disaster Reduction (Kobe, Hyogo, Japan 18-22 January 2005). 70 Countries and National Platforms. ISDR. (www.unisdr.org/partners/countries). 71 Towards National Resilience Good practices of National Platforms for Disaster Risk Reduction. ISDR. 2008. 72 Strategic National Action Plans for Disaster Risk Reduction. ISDR. (www.unisdr-apps.net/confluence/display/bib/Strategic+National+Action+Plan+%28SNAP%29+for+Disaster+Risk+Reduction).

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Management (NPDM) developed in 1998, which emphasizes forward planning, preparedness, prevention, mitigation response, recovery and rehabilitation

74, and Kenya’s National Action Plan to Combat Desertification & Drought (NAP) presented in 2002.

At the same time, there has been considerable advance in building national institutional mechanisms and policies for climate change adaptation. National adaptation policies are articulated in National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs). The advance in CCA efforts has been rapid in recent years and has brought with it a multitude of important initiatives. Experience, however, shows that these governance structures have developed separately from those for DRR at national and local levels, resulting in a need for greater coordination between CCA and DRR institutional arrangements, policies and planning

75. The figure below illustrates the parallel

mechanisms in place for CCA and DRR in countries of the Pacific region76

.

Supporters of CSA recognize the need for greater coherence and coordination, and that “lack of coherence can prevent synergy capture and render the pursuit of the stated policy objectives ineffective”

77. An inclusive and coherent pathway for CSA would include

partnerships with the institutional architecture of both DRR and CCA, joint dialogue, and articulating collective action in the agriculture sector for the benefit of farmers. It is a rational and more cost-effective approach given the institutional deficit and constrained resources in many developing countries. On the ground people at risk also need coherent policies and support. In this sense CSA can be the conceptual framework that inter-connects the two and fosters consistency and coherence in the context of the agriculture sector, benefiting from the complementary approaches and established capacity, and contributing to resilience and adaptation in an integrated manner. It could provide a unifying umbrella within agriculture line agencies to promote DRR and CCA, as well as mitigation and production objectives and catalyze better linkages between them. In its ability to grasp the dimension of multiple challenges and the importance of aligning approaches, CSA can help to overcome “the legacy of fragmented institutions established around single-issue “silos”; and move towards integrated thinking and policymaking”, a need to achieve sustainable development that is well recognized by the High-level Panel on Global Sustainability

78. A strategic approach for planning CSA programmes should begin by taking stock of what

is already in place at country level and identifying the key gaps that need to be addressed to better manage risks and climate change in the sector. New examples of good practice are emerging of national enabling environments that combine the shared concern over disaster risk and climate change. In Nepal, for instance, the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with FAO and UNDP recently developed the Priority Framework for Action for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management in Agriculture, which draws from the actions previously outlined in the National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) and National Strategy for Disaster Risk Management (NSDRM), thereby providing policy coherence. Nepal’s integrated framework is a promising example of good practice, and can serve as an ideal platform for advancing CSA in the country, offering opportunities for partnerships, coordination and synergy in the practical technical solutions supported by the framework. Below the case study on the Philippines provides a more detailed example of a country that has recently developed a legislation and policy on climate change integrating DRR.

74 Drought impact mitigation and prevention in the Limpopo River Basin. FAO. 2004. 75 Review of Current and Planned Adaptation Action: Southern Africa. Adaptation Partnership. 2011. 76 Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation in the Pacific: an Institutional and Policy Analysis. ISDR, World Bank, UNDP. 2012. 77

“Climate-Smart” Agriculture: Policies, Practices and Financing for Food Security, Adaptation and Mitigation. FAO. 2010. 78 Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing. High-level Panel on Global Sustainability. 2012.

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Case Study 9: Emerging Links Between DRR and CCA Enabling Environments in the Philippines79

The Philippines is the third most-disaster-prone country globally, with the highest number of people exposed and displaced annually due to natural disasters

80. The country is prone to earthquakes and tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, drought and typhoons which cause

secondary effects such as landslides, floods/flash floods and storm surges. It is also affected by the periodic occurrence of El Nino and La Nina events. Many areas are exposed to multiple hazards: 22.3% of the land area is exposed to three or more hazards and areas where two or more hazards are prevalent comprise 62.2%. The Philippines is expected to experience substantial rise in sea levels, making 70 percent of the 1,500 municipalities located along the coast vulnerable. Agriculture represents 1/5 of the total economy (18% of GDP) and generates 1/3 of national employment. The country has a Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act (DRR/M Act), enacted in 2010, which includes a policy to mainstream DRR and climate change into socio-economic development planning, budgeting, and governance, including for the agriculture sector. Under the Act, Local Government Units (LGUs) are now enforced to use at least 5% of their budgets for disaster risk reduction, and the formulation of a DRR/M plan by LGUs forms the basis for the disbursement of the funds. The country also has a Strategic National Action Plan on DRR 2009-2019 (SNAP) which spells out the road-map for DRR with the overall goal of contributing to the country’s sustainable development and poverty alleviation agenda

81.

The Philippine´s Climate Change Act enacted in 2009, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, recognizes that climate change and disaster risk reduction are closely interrelated and that effective disaster risk reduction will enhance climate change adaptive capacity

82. The Act

mentions that “…the State shall integrate disaster risk reduction into climate change programs and initiatives”. The Act also establishes a Climate Change Commission attached to the Office of the President and an advisory board composed of all relevant line Ministries, including the provision that “At least one (1) of the sectoral representatives shall come from the disaster risk reduction community”

83. Among the functions of the Commission is ensuring the “…mainstreaming of climate change, in synergy with

disaster risk reduction, into the national, sectoral and local development plans and programs”, and partnership with the National Disaster Coordinating Council in order to increase efficiency and effectiveness…”

84. It further states that the LGUs shall be the frontline

agencies in the formulation, planning and implementation of climate change action plans. The National Framework Strategy on Climate Change 2010-2022 recognizes that the Philippines “faces increasing disaster risks with geological/seismic dangers closely interacting with...meteorological hazards” and integrates disaster risk reduction, including the enhancement of monitoring, forecasting and hazard warning systems, and mainstreaming DRR and CCA into development and land-use planning based on disaster risk assessments. Similarly, the national Development Plan identifies three goals for the agriculture sector, one of which is to increase “sector resilience to climate change risks” which aims to:

85

Reduce climate change-related risks and the vulnerability of natural ecosystems and biodiversity; Increase the resilience of agriculture communities through the development of climate change-sensitive technologies, climate-

resilient agricultural infrastructure and climate-responsive food production systems; Strengthen the agriculture and fisheries insurance system as an important risk sharing mechanism; Incorporate natural hazards and climate risk in the agricultural land use plan; Strengthen the capacity of communities to respond effectively to climate risks and natural hazards; Continue vulnerability and adaptation assessments especially in food production areas.

Since the above example of the Philippines is recent, it remains to be seen how it will translate into practice. Nonetheless, it illustrates an effective approach, based on an understanding of the multi-dimension of risks, to improving coherence at the highest level through an explicit legislation and national policy with concrete strategies that better harmonize risk reduction and adaptation objectives, including in the agriculture sector, including mainstreaming into agricultural development planning.

79 Climate Change Act of 2009 of the Republic of Philippines (Republic Act 9729) 80 Global Report on Disaster Risk Reduction. ISDR 2009. 81 Strengthening Disaster Risk Reduction in the Philippines: Strategic National Action Plan 2009-2019 (SNAP). 82

Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2011: Disaster Risk Reduction Legislation as a Basis for Effective Adaptation. ISDR. 2011. 83 Climate Change Act of 2009 of the Republic of Philippines (Republic Act 9729) 84 Ibid. 85 Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016

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5.2 Region-wide platforms and inter-governmental strategies for DRR

DRR initiatives at regional levels also offer great potential for collaborative arrangements and for catalyzing CSA. Worldwide there are six regional platforms on DRR in place, such as the Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction of the Southern Africa Development Community and the Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas. Working through or with these networks and officials enhances coherence, helps to build synergies and taps on existing expertise and practice. It is also a rational and cost-effective approach. In addition to the regional platforms, a number of regional inter-governmental organizations have developed disaster risk reduction strategies or frameworks for cooperation in DRR at the regional level, including the ASEAN Regional Programme on Disaster Management (ARPDM). The African Union developed the Africa Regional Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction and adopted a Programme of Action for the Implementation of the Africa Regional Strategy for DRR. Africa’s Regional Economic Communities (RECs) are key partners for the implementation of the strategy, including the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD)

86. Andean countries developed the Andean Strategy for Disaster Prevention and Relief

in 2009, and in 2010 Central American heads of state adopted the legally binding Central American Integrated Policy on Disaster Risk Reduction (PCIGR), which aims at an improved regional commitment to disaster risk reduction through a common guiding framework for the region

87.

Linking DRR and CCA at regional levels is yet to develop but new pioneering regional initiatives are underway, such as that of the Incheon REMAP in Asia illustrated below. Case Study 10: A Regional Approach to Joint DRR and CCA: the Incheon REMAP in Asia At regional level, the Incheon REMAP initiative is an example of how governments are providing an enabling policy environment and commitment for joint initiatives in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. In 2010, the Fourth Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction approved a five-year regional roadmap, the Incheon REMAP. Fifty Asian and Pacific region governments agreed to “By 2015, establish climate resilient disaster risk management (DRM) systems that contribute to sustainable development at regional, national, sub-national and community levels”

88. The roadmap aims to promote regional cooperation on

disaster risk reduction through climate change adaptation in Asia, including the integration of DRR & CCA into development for green growth. The following priority targets were agreed: 1) 10 countries with integrated approach/institutional structure to promote synergistic financing between DRM and CCA; 2) DRR and CCA investment tracking in place in 10 countries; and 3) 100% of regional partners combine DRR and CCA programme or funding. Other initiatives agreed to in the roadmap include the promotion of multi-hazard risk assessments and capacities in local settlements, developing and sharing information, technology, sound practices, and lessons learned in climate and disaster risk management, collecting sound practices and lessons learned in DRR & CCA, developing a platform for sharing information, technologies and sound practices in DRR & CCA, improving linkages between CCA and DRR institutions at national and regional level, and implementing joint DRR & CCA projects in selected countries.

VI. Concluding Remarks and Recommendations

86 Report on the status of Disaster Risk Reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa. WB and GFDRR. 2010 87 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2011: Disaster Risk Reduction Legislation as a Basis for Effective Adaptation. ISDR. 2011. 88 Incheon Regional Roadmap on DRR through CCA in Asia and the Pacific. 2010.

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To achieve its multiple objectives, climate-smart agriculture recognizes and promotes the application and scaling-up of proven practices and approaches, and follows a holistic pathway that brings together a number of areas of expertise. It further recognizes that an enabling environment and institutional partnerships are vital for achieving CSA. Aiming to contribute to these objectives, this module illustrated how proven policy and practice in DRR provides a rich resource-base for promoting and up-scaling CSA, specifically to support the achievement of Pillar 2: strengthening resilience to climate change and variability. Of the wide range of proven practices in risk reduction and the many potential synergies with CSA, this module focused on some examples, illustrating how these can be combined with the know-how emerging on adaptation for a richer and more holistic approach to CSA, as summarized in the following diagram. Climate-smart agriculture proposes a landscape approach with multiple objectives, and integrated landscape management requires an understanding of all natural hazards affecting a given territory. Multi-hazard risk assessments and mapping was introduced as an example of a tool that can help inform the design of appropriate CSA initiatives, to aid with landscape planning and decision-making. It is effective for identifying the spatial distribution of hazards (climate-related hazards and geological hazards) at different scales, to assess the exposure to and vulnerability of farming systems to these and evaluate the overall level of risk. The combined analysis of multi-hazard risk assessment and mapping with downscaled climate change scenarios provides a harmonized framework for assessing all spatially relevant hazards in specific geographic areas, providing a complete picture of how food security is affected today by hazards and how it may be impacted by climate change, and facilitating short and long-term holistic planning for CSA.

ADAPTATIONDRR

Drought

Hurricanes

Floods

A holistic pathway that harnesses the established capacity supporting DRR

and CCA at the local, national, regional and global levels

DRR Capacity

Address geological hazards affecting food security, such as tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes

Land degradation

De-forestation

Soil erosion

Degradation of coastal ecosystems

Salinization of soils

Water scarcity

Drought

Hurricanes

Floods

Increased frequency and intensity of climate-related hazards

Geological hazards

Emerging threats

Address the increased risk from climate-change related processes such as sea level rise and glacier melt, and the reconfiguration in the spatial distribution of climate hazards such as extreme temperature

Decline in ecosystem services

Natural hazards and climate change contribute to ecosystem stress and the degradation of natural resources: DRR and CCA seek to redress these underlying drivers of risk

Global policy frameworks for DRR: Hyogo Framework for Action

National enabling environment: legislation, institutional architecture, policies and plans for DRR

Proven DRR technologies and practices that build resilience

Community-based participatory processes (CBDRM)

Risk assessment methods

Climate-Smart Agriculture

Global policy frameworks for DRR: UNFCCC / IPCC

National enabling environment: institutional architecture, policies and plans for CCA

Innovative technologies and practices for adaptation

Community-based participatory processes (CBA)

Climate change scenarios

CCA Capacity

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Community-based Disaster Risk Management was illustrated as a proven participatory method for assessing local risks and for informing local planning. It can be a vehicle and methodology for promoting CSA at local levels. It provides considerable scope given the widespread application of CBDRM and its institutionalization across many countries. Working through joint community-based DRR and CCA approaches provides links with important local institutional networks and brings coherence to communities and local authorities. In addition, there are many examples of local knowledge and risk reduction technologies and practices that have proven effective for reducing disaster risks, and these represent a rich resource pool from which to draw for the horizontal up-scaling of climate-smart agriculture to gain greater geographic scale. Knowledge sharing becomes a vital strategy for gaining scale given the wealth of proven DRR practices across most countries. Making use of technologies and practices that support both risk reduction and adaptation enable CSA to provide win-win benefits for farmers. At the national and regional levels, the well-established legislations, institutional structures, policies and plans on disaster risk reduction provide CSA with a strong supportive enabling environment. By working in partnership with the national institutional architecture of DRR and CCA, CSA can provide a unifying umbrella within agriculture line agencies, and articulate integrated and coherent plans for CSA based on existing DRR and CCA policies and strategies. Developing strategic frameworks to guide action and investment on CSA at country level will require mapping the national institutional landscape, policies and plans that can enable and catalyze CSA. This will be a challenging process given the wide array of disciplines, actors and frameworks that are relevant to CSA, and the complex inter-relationship among these. Unquestionably, the mapping exercise should include disaster risk reduction policies and practices relevant to livelihoods and food security. The following are suggestions of how existing DRR capacities can be harnessed in favor of implementing the objectives of climate-smart agriculture, drawing on the examples given in this module and on experience elsewhere

89.

Table 1: Strategic entry areas in risk reduction for CSA, and integration opportunities with CCA

Enabling environment Practical Tools Knowledge Sharing

Work with national platforms and institutional mechanisms in place for coordinating disaster risk reduction and adaptation. Promote multi-stakeholder dialogue to identify opportunities and partnerships between the DRR and CCA communities, and to jointly address gaps and harmonize plans for CSA. Take stock of and build coherence with national policies and plans already developed for reducing disaster risk and for adaptation in the country, including those that may be hazard-specific, such as drought mitigation policies.

Conduct integrated analysis of multiple risks to agriculture and food security, based on the collection of available information (data and maps) on hazards, vulnerabilities and risk assessments. Enhance tools that blend risk assessments of current risks and downscaled climate change scenarios for improved and more holistic analysis Design CSA project initiatives that integrate adaptation and risk reduction measures, and that are in line with national DRR and CCA goals. Implement CSA locally through integrated DRR and CCA community-based approaches that combine short-term immediate measures to reduce risks with long-term adaptation measures to slow-onset climate change.

Take stock of and promote proven traditional local knowledge. Map and promote DRR technologies and practices that have been effective in reducing disaster risks to help meet the objectives of CSA. Promote knowledge sharing among farmers, practitioners and policy makers on effective DRR and CCA technologies. Support generation of integrated knowledge and practice Support stronger engagement of the DRR community

The need for scale is ever more urgent now because of climate change. Southern Africa alone will be heavily affected by climate change in the next 70 years, with temperature increases of up to six degrees Celsius, and a decrease in rainfall by as much as 40 percent in some parts of the region. Climate-smart agriculture offers fresh opportunities to improve food security. Along the pathway to promote

89 Adapted from recommendations made in Adaptation to Climate Change by Reducing Disaster Risks: Country Practices and Lessons. UNISDR Briefing Note 2. ISDR.

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and implement strategic frameworks at country level that are inclusive and holistic, CSA should make DRR a core element, harvest the wealth of good practice in disaster risk reduction and forge strong partnerships with established institutional arrangements. Building on the accumulated know-how in DRR increases the efficiency of international aid and government investments, a critical factor considering the already severely constrained human resources and institutional environment of developing countries and aid budgets that are increasingly less able to attend to recurring and simultaneous disasters worldwide. For farmers, ultimately, there is no distinction between risk reduction and adaptation, but rather threats to livelihoods and family food security from which they need to be protected.

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