SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: FROM COMMUNITY APPROACHES TO FLOOD VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA

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1 VULNERABILITY REDUCTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IN SOUTH ASIA Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad Chairman, Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad (BUP) President, Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) 1

2 Constructing Sustainable Development Pathway Sustainable development is now widely agreed to imply: a coordinated promotion of economic, social, and ecological objectives, involving all segments of population These three basic pillars are entwined and are mutually influenced through a complex of feed-back relationships 2

3 Constructing Sustainable Development Pathway (contd.) Sustainable development pathway, can, therefore, be constructed through an integrated approach, involving key elements of the three pillars 3

4 Constructing Sustainable Development Pathway (contd.) It is, therefore, essential that for sustainable development (economic and social) and climate change communities Work together Appreciate the importance of interlinkages and collectively formulate policies and processes 4

5 Constructing Sustainable Development Pathway (contd.) The political process has also to be sensitized and supportive because it is the political process that creates the policy environment, institutional support, and financing arrangement directly as well as through private sectors by the appropriate incentives 5

6 Sustainable Development in South Asia: Challenges Faced, even without Climate Change (CC) SAARC countries (except the newly admitted Afghanistan) contain a total population of 1.4 billion, about 22 per cent of the world total 6

7 Sustainable Development in South Asia: Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.) But, its landmass is only 3.4 per cent of the world landmass Between 400 and 500 million people are below national poverty lines, accounting for about one-third of the total population of the region and about 40 per cent of the world s total poor population 7

8 Sustainable Development in South Asia: Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.) Population growth rates are still high in the region, which are Bangladesh (1.7%) India (1.4%), Maldives (2.4%), Pakistan (2.0), Sri Lanka (0.7%) Efforts are afoot to reduce population growth rate in each country, but still a long way to go before a stabilization can be reached 8

9 Sustainable Development in South Asia: Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.) The countries of the region are achieving reasonable or even high economic growth rate, but, disparity has been increasing, given that the poor do not get their equitable shares 9

10 Sustainable Development in South Asia: Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.) According to the latest available data (Circa 2000), the national income share of the poorest 10 per cent in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka from 3.4 per cent to 3.9 per cent, while that of the richest 10 per cent varies from 27 per cent to 29 per cent 10

11 Sustainable Development in South Asia: Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.) The situation has in fact worsened since 2000 The poor are severely disadvantaged because of extremely low human capability (education, training, and health) 11

12 Sustainable Development in South Asia: Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.) The poor suffer from extremely limited access to resources (land, capital, environmental facilities) and from political and social marginalization Moreover, there are severe gender inequalities 12

13 Sustainable Development in South Asia: Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.) Clearly, therefore, a lot needs to be done to create a cohesive socioeconomic-political environment, involving all segments of society 13

14 Sustainable Development in South Asia: Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.) While there are sustainability problems in relation to economic and social development, environmental degradation also continues unabated. As a result, the natural base of economic growth is severely threatened 14

15 Sustainable Development in South Asia: Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.) Severe stresses are, therefore, faced by the South Asian countries in relation to all aspects (economic, social, environmental) of sustainable development 15

16 Sustainable Development in South Asia: Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.) In the Wake of Climate Change Climate change generally renders the natural systems increasingly fragile and degrades the conditions in which human systems operate 16

17 Sustainable Development in South Asia: Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.) In the Wake of Climate Change (contd.) When climate change is superimposed on the persisting, even accentuating social, economic, and environmental problems faced, the way forward is extremely complex and difficult 17

18 Sustainable Development in South Asia: Challenges Faced, even without CC (contd.) In the Wake of Climate Change (contd.) In order to get through the interlinked deficits and stresses, a multi-pronged integrated approach is necessary to make progress towards sustainable development 18

19 WE NOW EXPLORE The linkages between community approaches to disaster (flood) management on the one hand and sustainable development in general and climate change adaptation in particular, on the other - based on a pilot study conducted in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal on Community Approaches to Flood Management (CAFM) during

20 Community Approaches to Flood Management (CAFM) in South Asia The CAFM pilot project has been implemented, with support from WMO/GWP APFM, by Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad (BUP), Dhaka (two floodprone locations) Institute for Resource management and Economic Development (IRMED), New Delhi (three flood-prone locations) Jalstrot Vikas Sanstha (JVS), Kathmandu (two floodprone locations) * BUP is the coordinating organization 20

21 CAFM in South Asia (contd.) The Purposes Avoiding flood risks through awareness building and community preparedness. Reducing losses and damages at the grassroots (household, public institutions, infrastructure) 21

22 The Purposes (contd.) Capacity building of the communities to face flood more effectively Facilitating the access of the communities to organized services from relevant agencies (local government, CBOs/NGOs, agencies of the central state government) 22

23 The purposes (contd.) Seeking to enhance congruence of microlevel action with macro policies (for policy, institutional, and resource support) Continuous education and capacity enhancement 23

24 CAFM in South Asia (contd.) Field Work and Flood Management Manual Development Data and information have been collected through a. Field visits/focus group discussions (FGDs) b. Participatory rural appraisals (PRAs) c. Key informants interviews 24

25 CAFM in South Asia (contd.) Field Work and Flood Management Manual Development (contd.) Based on data and information collected and insights gathered a. Main flood-related problems faced by the communities were identified b. The ways the people themselves address the problems identified c. Using the outcomes of these analyses and further discussions, as required, with the communities, Flood management Manual (FMM) were prepared 25

26 CAFM in South Asia (contd.) Field Work and Flood Management Manual Development (contd.) FMMs were then field-tested and wide-scale discussions were held with the local communities of the study areas Based on the results of those field tests and discussions and further analysis, FMMs were revised A synthesis of the three country-manuals was finally prepared 26

27 Sustainable Development: The Way Forward From sustainable development, people have to be empowered through improvement in their economic status and enhancement of their social development on one hand, while on the other improvement of their resilience and capacity to face natural disasters, which are likely to be more severe and more frequent due to climate change, more effectively 27

28 Climate Change in South Asia Parts of South Asia are at the forefront of climate change, involving both natural and human systems (IPCC 2001), for example Coastal and low-lying areas due to increased precipitation and floods, storm surges, and sea-level rises; widespread water-borne and vector-borne diseases Severe droughts in parts of India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan but also in other countries; heat-related diseases. 28

29 Climate Change in South Asia (contd.) Glaciers in the Himalayas are retreating with increasing melting due to global warming. This process will increase dry season flows and sediment loads in the Himalayas rivers in the short run. Over longer run, dry season flows in the rivers will decrease, with consequent economic, social, and environment problems 29

30 Climate Change in South Asia (contd.) Adverse impact on the agriculture (crop, fishery, forestry, and livestock), industry, navigation The poor and the disadvantaged, who have extremely limited economic capacity, and often live in marginal areas are liable to suffer the most 30

31 CAFM and Climate Change Climate change issues were not included in the CAFM exercise But, people have shown keen awareness that severe floods are occurring more frequently in recent times 31

32 From CAFM to Climate Change Adaptation The Manuals have generated the following outputs for pre-flood, during-flood, and post-flood stages Lists of challenges faced Lists of activities the people themselves undertake to manage floods Lists of activities on which people need capacity improvement, and the ways of achieving that capacity improvement 32

33 From CAFM to Climate Change Adaptation (contd.) The Manuals (contd.) Training, liaison with other local high level agencies are envisaged And a key proposal is the setting up of Community Flood Management Committees (CFMCs) in cooperation with the local government institutions (Union Parishad in Bangladesh and Panchayet in India and Nepal). The members of the committee are drawn from various walks of life and sensitized and trained as required, by a facilitating organization 33

34 From CAFM to Climate Change Adaptation (contd.) The Manuals (contd.) The CFMC will plan, facilitate, organize training programmes, and undertake other community-level activities, facilitating by a relevant local/national institution, at pre-, during, and post-flood stages 34

35 From CAFM to Climate Change Adaptation (contd.) The manuals were implemented, obviously, including setting up of CFMCs and training programmes conducted, in two areas in Bangladesh, two areas in Nepal, and one area in India; and found to be very beneficial Although, the implementation has been very limited, the efficacy of the approach seems broadly validated. Wide-scale replication is needed 35

36 From CAFM to Climate Change Adaptation (contd.) Once the capacity of the communities are, thus, enhanced to manage floods or other natural disasters, a major step will have been achieved towards adaptation to climate change It will be necessary to incorporate climate risk assessments in the process, for which linkages with national and international sources of climate change information will be needed to be tapped Also, linkages with national and international sources of assistance will be required 36

37 Thank you 37