ANALYSIS OF THE INTERVIEWS WITH LOCAL STAKEHOLDERS AND THE LOCAL PLANNING DOCUMENTS

Transcription

1 ANALYSIS OF THE INTERVIEWS WITH LOCAL STAKEHOLDERS AND THE LOCAL PLANNING DOCUMENTS Social awareness on the institutional level Activity: WP3 Act. 3.3 Author: Version Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Research Centre for Regional Studies National Directorate General for Disaster Management Final Date 22/11/2013 1

2 Contents 1. Scope of the document introduction and methodology Analysis of interviews with local stakeholders Subjective evaluation of risk exposure in the pilot areas Local reflections of the national level organisational changes in disaster management Provision of information on climate change and preparation of local people for extreme weather situations Evaluation of the citizens preparedness for disaster situations The impacts of climatic attributes and changes on urban development and maintenance Document analysis Disaster management plans Land use and regulation plans Development programmes strategic plans Sectoral plans Conclusions

3 1. Scope of the document introduction and methodology Research projects on climate change generally used to lack the social side of the issue as an aspect of analysis, although society plays a crucial role as it causes and also suffers from the effects of this complex natural phenomenon. SEERISK goes beyond the usual physical interpretation by taking the viewpoint of communities, institutions (disaster management among others), which need to relate to the potential and palpable consequences of transformation in climatic conditions. As environment and society are both immediate sufferers of the climate change impacts it became inevitable to take on board the social aspects too. SEERISK belongs to another generation of research programmes regarding climate change as a complex issue and this approach contributes to the novelty of the project. In SEERISK by social we mean not only the individuals and the community they form but also the institutional frameworks (of which disaster management is an element). The outcomes of the SEERISK case study examinations on the social aspects have been synthesised in two documents, of which this research summary focuses on the institutionalized approach to climate change. Being aware of and being prepared for the impacts of climate change have become indispensible for communities and their public, private and civic organisations looking after the welfare, wellbeing and safety of people. Therefore, besides the approach of the inhabitants (see other research document on the questionnaire survey) it is essential to get a deeper insight to the knowledge and adaptability of the municipalities, locally based state and municipality institutions and other stakeholders such as NGOs, private companies regarding the issue. It is essential because their approach and actions fundamentally determine the local people s knowledge and behaviour i.e. inhabitants approach cannot be studied independently from the governmental and institutional context they live in. Studying the institutional background the starting question is if they have a basic (necessary) knowledge about the issue in question (climate change and consequences), then it becomes important to see if they build their short and long term strategies incorporating this knowledge (regarding impacts, adaptation and interventions etc.), weather they build individual (organisational level) strategies or consider the issue as a subject to discussion with other stakeholders, and finally if they find it important to share the knowledge with local people treat them as partners or just subjects to their actions when a critical situation requires intervention. 3

4 By answering the questions the aim was to identify insufficiencies within the institutional framework and also to identify gaps between the risk exposure and the actual preparedness of the local communities along with possible solutions in the form of recommendations. To achieve these research objectives on the level of the SEERSIK project firstly the fundamental questions were to be answered on the level of the pilot areas. The pilot areas were identical with those of the questionnaire survey. The partners applied the same methodology practically including two methods of research widely utilized in social science: interviewing and document analysis. The heads/directors of four (or optionally more) relevant institutions and organizations were recommended as potential interviewees. A uniform list of questions to each interview was also provided to the partners in order to keep to the principle of comparability all along the way to reaching the final results. The interviews were semi-structured interviews. This mode of interviewing gives a firm framework to communication but still leaves a free hand to the interviewer to discover the local specificities. The objective was to see the general approach and viewpoint of the ones in higher position in the local society, who has the right and the obligation to formulate decisions on the priorities of local actions and budget spending. The information gained from the interviews were synthesised in an analysis clustering the acquired knowledge around five topics. The analyses of the pilots were the sources of information the actual inputs for compiling the relevant part of this report, which follows the same thematic structure as the pilot studies. The other method applied was the document analysis. Here by documents we meant the local planning and operational documents of the communities (municipalities). The aim was to see to what extent and in what forms the local plans as formalised documentations of the principles and intended actual steps of local operation and development deal with the issue. The focus of analysis was climate change, whether the globally so pressing issue appears in the local documents as a factor influencing daily life, future development objectives, measures and prospects. The documents to be scrutinised were listed and the list ranged from the civic protection plans, via regulatory and development oriented strategic plans to the environment protection programmes. As the general experience is that action and thinking are far behind formalised planning only the combined results of the above mentioned interviews and the planning document analysis could give a full picture about the status of community preparedness and adaptability. 4

5 The uniform methodology again was handed over to the partners in the form of a table, which consistently contained the questions to each relevant planning document type. The information was given either in the table as brief answers or as fully elaborated texts. These were the inputs to the synthesis presented here. 2. Analysis of interviews with local stakeholders 2. 1 Subjective evaluation of risk exposure in the pilot areas The interviewees opinions about the tangible effects of climate change vary by partners. In Siófok, Arad, Kanjiza and Sarajevo-Ilidza they all agreed that impacts of global climate change are detectable, and reinforced the fact of the palpable changes regarding various weather phenomenon. In Siófok the interviewees claimed that Lake Balaton extrapolates the changes in weather (with more and more extreme winds and thunderstorms), while in Kanjiza they talked about the extended winter period, the extremely rapid warming, the practical disappearance of spring and autumn (this general observation appeared in accounts of most partners). They also clearly linked these phenomena to global climate change. In Velingrad and in Senica however the interviewees attributed changes to natural cycles in weather and human intervention locally to natural processes. They expressed the need for more thorough research, which would prove the link between changes in local weather and classic interpretation of the global climate change. None of the interviewed person stated that there are natural hazards related to climate change. They observations were about natural cycles and not about a stable tendency of climate change. (Velingrad, Bulgaria) on the relatively small area of the Kunov cadastre fell in a relatively short time relatively large amount of storm rainfall, which was preceded by hail. Climate change was the cause in minimum, as storms sometimes still occur, especially during the summer months. The event was caused in my opinion in 75% by the Agricultural cooperatives Senica by very inappropriate choice of only sparsely sown crops on slopes surroundings of the Kunov municipality. (Senica, Slovakia) 5

6 2.2 Local reflections of the national level organisational changes in disaster management Legislative changes occurred in each partner country in the past 2-3 years, which resulted a substantial transformation in the organisation of disaster management and the fire fighters and their relation to other actors. This means integration and centralisation to make the system more efficient with a strong hierarchy and a top-down structure. Some partners interviewees expressed worries that the new management system from the top to the bottom slows down decision making. In all the pilot areas local competences remained in the hands of the municipality, but in extreme cases they need to turn to the level of higher competences, and the coordination of rescuing actions are taken over by higher level professionals. It was reported widely that fire stations became the local centres of disaster management in the integrated system, which seemed to be a sensible step regarding the use infrastructure. The local institutions such as schools still have a massive role in the provision of shelters in critical situations but also take on the responsibility of preparation from the minimum level of evacuation exercises to the systematic preparation integrated into the curriculum (see next sub-chapter). Partnership and cooperation is of crucial impotence in the new system as well but according to the accounts of the partners partnership is more concentrated on the critical situations (disaster events) rather than having a thorough strategic foundation. Cooperation is three-fold on the local level in critical events: municipality (decision making), disaster management (operational level), institutions (technical assistance). Roles have become less distinguished especially with respect to decision making as the professional voice has become much stronger with professionals of higher rank taking over the control in critical cases. The general experience is that private sphere is not quite prone to take part, though by law they are obliged to. Volunteering has become a key issue. Some partners feel that people are barely motivated for volunteering, while others found it easier to recruit people. The situation is nowhere idealistic as the sense of responsibility for the communities has almost disappeared in the past few decades. People have got used to being helped out from critical situations instead of doing something for themselves and for the others. Volunteers are always the same people as it was reported from Siófok, Hungary. 6

7 2.3 Provision of information on climate change and preparation of local people for extreme weather situations The provision of relevant information for the citizens is normally multi-actor based. Information flow on climate change is mostly separated from preparation for disaster situations and the efficiency varies greatly by age. Talking about climate change belongs to the competence of schools but not in the framework of one single subject. The topic of climate change is one of the crosscutting topics environmental education, which is involved into few educational subjects. Those are: natural history, local arts, mathematics, biology, geography, physics, chemistry, Slovak language, technical education. (Senica, Slovakia) Climate change is mostly involved in the curriculum but the local aspects and the consequences are hardly ever integrated into teaching. Local level hazards generally belong to the topics of the form master s classes. For us it is something important as we have 550 pupils and the staff is round 100. We all need to know that various unexpected events can happen it can be an earthquake, extensive fire or any other kind of event which cannot be foreseen. All these issues are to be discussed under the moderation of the form master in order to get to know what is to be and not to be done in these unexpected situations. (Director of József Beszédes Secondary School, Kanjiza, Serbia) Older generations would not get this systematic preparation in the field they get information mostly from national media (TV, radio, and internet) if they are interested and adaptive enough. As for the preparation of local people for extreme weather situations: Centrally determined and locally initiated actions (presentations at schools, distributing leaflets, organising evacuation exercises etc.) are combined ideally. Cooperation between actors is also a must on this level too. Real action and efficiency however differ strongly among the pilot areas. The main target groups are the children as they can be reached in an institutionalized way. Annually repeated evacuation simulations are common practices (all the partners mentioned this), but these are hardly ever completed with giving information about the background of the critical cases, which might generate the necessity of evacuation. Specific information sources (clubs, extra lessons) are less reachable for the children in the pilot areas. 7

8 The middle aged people are the most difficult to reach according to the interviewees. National and local media potentially reach them, but these channels of information seem to have low efficiency. Local municipalities have a little competence in action, they print leaflets, advertise in local newspapers, though they all have a person in charge of civil protection. All partners share the view that preventive actions need to be made stronger and more efficient involving different partners from public institutions such as schools, health organisations to the local disaster management unit and even workplaces. 2.4 Evaluation of the citizens preparedness for disaster situations It is generally agreed that local people are not interested in awareness and preparedness for climate change related natural hazards. People for sure are not prepared for that (climate change), only little percentage of people are interested in this subject, most of the people live in present and they are not interested in the future and in the concepts such as destruction of tropical forests, desertification, shortage of drinking water, acid rain etc. Here man is not worried about that, he does not feel it at first hand. (Head of the Department of Civil Protection and Crisis Management District Office, Senica, Slovakia) Potentially those hazards are exceptions which most affect their lives by experience. According to the interviewees, the population is not sufficiently prepared for any emergency event. We considered that neither local authorities nor population are properly prepared for counteract consequences of climate change. Regarding age and education we consider that there is a difference. Younger and more educated people are more interested in this phenomenon than older or less educated persons. (an NGO, Arad, Romania) Human irresponsibility appears in acts such as constructions breaking the rules of local regulation or simple negligence in private properties this way threatening other people s lives in case of natural disasters. Local people are supposed to be prepared for the various extreme weather events and should be aware of the term and meaning of climate change. However, there are individuals in the local community, who commit the same irresponsible mistakes year after year, in spite of the negative experiences. Most typical of these is that they fill up the rain water drainage system in front of their 8

9 properties and build parking places on them. When there is an extreme rainfall producing a lot of water the buildings are flooded and the same people ask for help from the municipality. This irresponsible behaviour is repeated and causes damage in other properties too. (the Mayor of Siófok, Hungary) All partner countries found it of elemental importance to raise the local people s awareness and increase their sense of responsibility. They hinted that it is not always the systematic preparation that is missing but the fact that the rules of society has changed, communities fade. 2.5 The impacts of climatic attributes and changes on urban development and maintenance The judgement of this issue varies the most by the partners interviewees due to the different assets of the pilot areas. It is generally agreed though that the elements of critical infrastructure (e.g. provision of water and electricity, roads to ensure accessibility) need to enjoy privilege in protection and development. Siófok and Senica especially emphasised this in relation to water courses and bodies (importance of protective dams, protective works). In Siófok projects are often parts of national strategic systems development (general water management of Lake Balaton, or the national railways) all vulnerable to the unprecedented storms. Other partners such as Arad attributes great significance to the thermal insulation programme for residential buildings and also stressed the need for a coherent policy for green areas in protection against the heat waves. We consider that the thermal insulation programme for residential buildings has to continue in order to reduce the effect of high temperatures on inhabitants (until now there are only 17 blocks of flats insulated through governmental programme). (Arad, Romania) There were extreme situations affecting the vulnerability of urban areas such as in Sarajevo-Ilidza. Unplanned construction of the dwellings particularly happened just after the war in Bosnia and lasted between 1992 and Population was exposed to the hazards due to unplanned construction of their dwellings. (Gap analysis, Sarajevo-Ilidza, Bosnia and Herzegovina) This situation has been healed recently, but was still listed as a problem to be dealt with. The impacts of climate change on assets such as arable land and productive activities such as agriculture providing the liveability of whole regions must be 9

10 considered besides the effects on urban environments. In regions like Kanjiza the interviewees expressed their concern about agriculture and the related infrastructure. They found projects for construction and restoration of irrigation systems, cleaning and extension of the irrigation canals the most important. 3. Document analysis As the pilots differ according to size and territorial, administrative cover, the examined documents consequently have different territorial and administrative coverage and sometimes cannot even be interpreted in the same manner. The main aspect of analysis was to find out if climate change is mentioned in these documents and if yes, to what extent the issue is dealt with. 3.1 Disaster management plans The documents are named differently in the pilot areas according to their scope. They are available for each pilot area and are all based on legislative obligations which they need to be in line with regarding the scope and the contents e.g. Operational plan of flood control, flooding from groundwater and ice on waterways on municipality of Kanjiza for 2013 year (specific in scope); Risks analysis and intervention plan in Arad county (general in scope). The documents are operative in nature and consequently action-oriented for the case of disaster events of various origin. The documents of Kanjiza and Senica analysed within the project focus specifically on flooding and groundwater, while that of the Velingrad Region discusses the to-do s about natural hazards in general. The plans of Arad County and Siófok Municipality have a wider approach including man-made hazards as well in the plan. The documents have been all revised and updated in the past 3 years due to legal obligations. By nature these documents are not analytical. They do not look for cause and effect relations do not look for and explain the development of the actual cause of the resulted disaster event. The plan of Arad County, Sarajevo-Ilidza, Siófok mention the concept of climate change, but they deal with the issue in the general introductions and treat climate change as the cause of changes in need of a new strategy disaster management. In the case of Siófok, Hungary, where settlements are ranked by national standards according to the exposure to risks climate change appears as one of factors considered. The plan gives the reasoning of the overall disaster 10

11 management classification of Siófok and its ranking into Category 1. There are four clusters of reasons mentioned. The impacts of climate change are considered in the first one. The ongoing transformation in weather is not necessarily qualified as quick on an annual level but due to its incalculable regularity it demands intensified attention and almost constant alertness. In the settlement the so called sudden floods and the over-spilling of Lake Balaton in case of a North- North-Westerly storm-wind cause potential danger. (Hazard Prevention plan for Siófok) All of the documents attribute increasing importance to prevention - field exercises and stress the significance of cooperation with the relevant authorities (e.g. water management) and organisations. The disaster management plans have hardly any cross references with other planning documents if any, it is the regulation/land-use plan. 3.2 Land use and regulation plans The urban and territorial land use/regulation plan(s) do not deal with cause effect relations either (no explanations are provided to the land use regulation of an area) but use the data types determined by the relevant act e.g. soil type, relief, annual amount of precipitation, risk of flooding etc.. Land use planning is regulative in nature and tells in each case what can and cannot be done regarding construction and what functions e.g. economic, residential, recreational are allowed to appear in a given zone. The consideration behind is manifold. Different land use zones are formulated according to the long term development needs based on the development concept (future vision) of the place industrial zones, mixed land use, residential land use etc. The horizontal consideration however should be always strictly rational thinking based on scientific facts about the land in question. e.g. high exposure to floods does not allow for residential constructions therefore residential land use is excluded. Building regulations are more in-depth regulative planning documents, in which not only the WHAT but also the HOW matters. In a residential zone high rise buildings might not be allowed to be constructed due to urban planning considerations e.g. historical centres, but the reason for the restrictions can be the frequency of extremely high-speed winds too. The partners reported that the issue of climate change is not a topic for this document. From the documents themselves and from the interviews with the 11

12 chief architects it was found out that the impacts of climate change appear in the local regulative planning documents indirectly and with considerable laps of time. According to the experience the amendment of the land use plans when the need arises require a lot of time. The land use plans are less prone to be modified as the consequence of climate change really extreme weather-related phenomena has to visit the area to generate such a need: such can be a river bed with extremely high floods with torrent flows here the flood plain zone with no possibility of permanent construction might need to be extended. Specific regulations include construction of the protective dykes along the water beds as well as restrictions for construction of dwellings in areas exposed to floods. (Sarajevo Ilidza, Bosnia and Herzegovina) Building regulation might require deeper drainage ditches in a neighbourhood if the underground drain system is not available due to more intensive raining. 3.3 Development programmes strategic plans While regulative planning stays on the level of necessary rules and regulations telling what cannot be done in a piece of land, urban and regional development concepts and strategic plans talk about what is to be developed and why in the given settlement according to the long term future vision of the place. In the pilot areas the relevant development oriented local planning documents (urban and territorial development concepts, strategies, or programmes) follow the same structure for the pilot areas, which is the sequence of situation/status analysis, preparation of SWOT analysis, determination of the future vision and the overall objectives, specifying thematic objectives (development targets), breaking them down to intervention fields and finally listing projects thematically or for particular areas of the settlement. Planning especially recently is often completed with the impact analysis of the execution of the programme but impact analysis is more typical for individual projects. One of the aspects considered is the environmental impact. According to the accounts, it is still not that widespread in the planning practice of the South-East European region. In accordance with the partners accounts climate change and its local consequences are not marked topics in the analysed planning documents. The issue appears if it does at all - less as a horizontal issue and more as part of the chapter on the state of environment. Here the state and assets of the natural and built environment are analysed with both local and the global dimensions: e.g. air pollution, emission, deforestation etc. 12

13 Two sections in this document mention the environmental issues. Paragraph named 3.6. Environment makes a brief review of some of the environmental statistics for the region - 83% forestry area and air pollution emissions which are lowering since There are three problems outlined by the paper: the illegal cutting of woods, air pollution from factory production and household garbage. The paper states that there is no separate collection of rubbish for the Velingrad Region. (Velingrad, Bulgaria) The interventions and projects are structured around the issue of the local impacts of climate change in none of the cases. Climate change and the environmental consequences hardly appear even as a horizontal issue even though the European Union directs the attention of the member states to the issue and respects the related investment needs of the partner countries in the period. Siófok is an exception in approach: The third point in the 5th chapter of IUDS called Programme of Sustainable Development: 3. The limitation of the activities strengthening climate change and preparation for the impacts climate change. The sole topic concerned here is the decrease of the greenhouse gases emission. Other problems arising from the climate change are not mentioned in this chapter. (Siófok, Hungary) There are identifiable projects in the planning documents, which can be directly or indirectly related to the consequence of climatic changes: Construction of a new pedestrian bridge over Mures river due to increased frequency of ice on Mures which affected safety of present floating bridge. Thermal insulation for residential buildings programme. (Arad, Romania) Cross references are more frequent as development documents of general scope often refer to the documents of environmental panning. The middle term urban strategic plan of Siófok refers to the Environmental Programme as a fundamental thematic document. Climate change could be introduced in the planning documents as the cause of certain investments and it can also be taken on board as the necessary aspect of the impact analysis. These aspects barely appear in the examined documents. The conclusion is that the makers of development oriented documents are recommended to consider and take on board the concept of climate change and consciously formulate investment projects regarding function, location, capacity, energy consumption with a thorough general and local knowledge about it. 13

14 3.4 Sectoral plans Climate change is a specific subject of the sectoral plans of environmental protection, which is mostly obligatory for municipalities by law. The making of the specific sectoral plans has been prescribed by Laws on Self Government adopted on entity levels and cantonal levels. The municipality of Ilidža has developed The Local Ecological Action Plan (LEAP) which was adopted at the Council of the municipality of Ilidža on 25 June 2013 and published in the Official Gazette of the Canton of Sarajevo, edition No. 29/13. (Sarajevo-Ilidza, Bosnia and Herzegovina) As another example in Hungary according to the Act LIII. on the general rules of the protection of environment chapter IV. point 46. (1) b) (1995.) the local municipalities are to work out a local environmental protection programme, which is to be assented by the local assembly. The present local environmental protection programme of Siófok has been in effect since 2009, when the original document was revised. The point of the revision is that the settlement has an action plan which is in harmony with the actual state of environment and forms the foundation of the local actions in environmental protection. For this it is a must to see those changes of human and environmental origin that have happened since the preparation of the original plan as well as positive and negative impacts of these changes. This phase is followed by the determination and the timing of the necessary measures, which are adjusted to the development ideas and principles of environmental protection. (The revision and updating of Environmental Protection Programme of Siófok Municipality for the period of ) The document contains numerous references to the impacts of climate change. In the situation analysis of the document the evaluation of the changes is a key concept. In the SEERISK project not all the pilot areas indicated to have such a document with the scope of their pilot areas. Even those which have it sometimes indicated that climate change is still not an integrated part of the plan (Arad, Romania) and expressed their hope to get the topic integrated in the following revision. In the cause-effect relation these documents focus on the cause side when talking about the interventions and measures, which are the control over the 14

15 human intervention into the natural flows (e.g. decrease of CO2 emission in global warning). The local adaptation strategy is not a core issue, nevertheless even the national strategies (if they exist) have started to deal with climate adaptation just recently. If localities have these specific plans they rely on the relevant national strategy, adjusts to the EU regulations (objectives) and policy recommendations. 4. Conclusions The analysis of local planning documents and the interviews with the stakeholders provide full-fledged information about the present state of the institutional approach to climate change and the treatment of the consequences in the SEE region on the community level. The general conclusion is that despite the legal background and national frameworks follow a roughly uniformalized track more attention is to be paid to the local level, the level of communities. It is the responsibility of the local leaders in cooperation with the national level institutions to get prepared for the challenges of climate change in a formalized (planning) and informal (flow of knowledge and information and encouraged cooperation) frameworks. The two main fields of intervention the actual improvements can be centred around: Integrating the climate change related aspects when taking decisions about the future of the communities (it concerns both the knowledge of decision makers and the a new approach in the mastering of planning) Establishing strategic co-operations between institutions on the one hand and between people and institutions on the other. These main fields as cornerstones of the conceptual framework are suggested to be taken into account when the policy recommendations are elaborated. 15