Disaster Risk Reduction and Building Resilience to Climate Change Impacts Luna Abu-Swaireh (abu-swaireh@un.org) May 2015 United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR)
Droughts Floods Storms Disaster and extreme weather trends
A Changing Risk Environment! Intensifying disasters trends & more frequent events Resource scarcity and degradation (land, water, food, energy, biodiversity) Climate change [extreme events, slow onset disasters (drought) Increasing risk of «unchecked» urbanization coupled with high exposure of population and assets in high risk areas. Increasing governance challenges, coordination, accountability, legislations, institutional mechanisms, migration, conflict, all affecting human security Equity, poverty, inclusion all being fundamental development challenges contributing to vulnerability Inter-dependency and complexity of risk drivers
The Disaster Burden is Real! Disasters continue to cause significant damage, both in terms of lives lost and assets destroyed. Mortality is concentrated in very intensive disasters; therefore, it is difficult to perceive trends over relatively short periods of time. However, mortality from smaller-scale events continues to increase. A large amount of damage occurs in small disaster events; constantly eroding essential development assets.
Extensive risk: eroding resilience Most disaster impacts in infrastructure are associated with extensive risk Extensive Risk causes major problems for low and middle income countries that already struggle to maintain and invest in new public infrastructure and services. Losses are expected to increase in the future, unless disaster risk is managed more successfully. Expected global annual losses estimated at US$314 billion in the built environment alone.
Socioeconomic development interacts with natural climate variations and human-caused climate change to influence disaster risk Disaster Risk: the likelihood of severe alterations in the normal functioning of a community or society due to weather or climate events interacting with vulnerable social conditions Vulnerability: the predisposition of a person or group to be adversely affected 6 Impacts from weather and climate events depend on: nature and severity of the event, vulnerability and exposure. Increasing vulnerability, exposure, or severity and frequency of climate events increases disaster risk (IPCC 2012 SREX Report)
Disaster risk management and climate change adaptation can influence the degree to which extreme events translate into impacts and disasters 7 IPCC 2012 SREX Report
Climate Change and Disaster Risk in Arab Region The region is highly vulnerable to climate change, with the world's worst water scarcity. Region is highly dependant on food imports (over 50% of food imported), thus severely affected by climate change impacts on agricultural sectors in other regions as well! Concentration of people and economic activity in coastal zones and urban centers Over 3/4 of the region's water resources go for human use, CC will require more stringent adjustments of water resources management than in any other region. Increasing frequency & intensity of disasters pose serious challenge to the sustainability of development investments and the stability of economic growth in the region.
Climate Change and Disaster Risk in Arab Region Floods = one of the most recurrent disaster events, which destroy development progress and hinder economic stability in the region. The 2008 floods in Yemen caused approximately US$ 1.7 billion in total damages and losses, and estimated to have increased the poverty rate (28 to 51%). CC impacts lead to increased water and resource scarcity, reduced agricultural productivity, heightened disaster risks, sea level rise, salinization of coastal areas. stressing the already over whelmed infrastructure, systems and capacities Overlapping challenges of poverty, social exclusion, food insecurity, human security and climate risk!
Recognized that: 2 nd Arab DRR Conference (09/2014) on Climate Risk! CC will lead to more extreme weather and climatic events with a detrimental impact on food security systems, undernutrition, and will also affect broad socio-economic development issues, political stability and conflict dynamics. Need to understand underlying risks to food insecurity better and integrate these as part of a disaster risk reduction approach. Water scarcity is a particular challenge of the Arab region and pose extraordinary challenges for food security and disaster risk reduction efforts. Lack of capacities at all levels is a key obstacle to addressing food security through a DRR approach, and vice versa.
2 nd Arab DRR Conference (09/2014) on Climate Risk! Agreed to: Ensure that DRR and climate change stakeholders recognize the direct and indirect consequences of disasters in terms of how shocks and stresses often interface with and exacerbate socio-economic instability and reinforce negative development trends. Ensure that risk governance becomes the new normal for national authorities. Investments are required to allow for needed capacity development of institutions and improved service delivery, to allow nations prepare for a future with higher risk thresholds.
2 nd Arab DRR Conference (09/2014) on Climate Risk! Agreed to: Undertake and implement improved measures to address drought and improve water security and food security through developing and implementing comprehensive strategies and policies that are informed by risk and vulnerability assessments that are aimed at building resilience to drought. Integrate DRR efforts with climate change efforts, in order to promote resilience, strengthen meteorological services for agriculture and water, and strengthen linkages between meteorology, agriculture, DRR and climate change.
Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Resilience Building resilient and sustainable societies means addressing both climate and disaster risks, and integrating these risks, as well as potential opportunities, into development planning and budgeting. Exposure and vulnerability to disaster risk can be reduced while strengthening socio-economic growth and protecting investments. Holistic approaches to resilient and risk-sensitive development enable governments to leverage the knowledge, skills and technologies of disaster risk reduction in ways that both reduce losses and promote sustainable growth in a changing climate.
Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Resilience Managing climate risk involves choices about DRR to address physical, social, economic and environmental vulnerability, and the exposure of people and assets to hazards. Understanding disaster trends (based on historical losses) coupled with probabilistic risk modelling based on future climate scenarios is critical to manage and reduce risks associated with climate change. Reducing disaster risk through effective adaptation plans, improving people-centered early warning systems, improving ecosystem management and enhancing disaster preparedness and disaster management capacities is crucial.
Innovations Shift from disaster loss to disaster risk Shift from disaster management to disaster risk management; Shift from what to do? to how to do? Focus on people-centred preventive approach to DRR Primary responsibility of States for DRR Shared responsibility for DRR with stakeholders Scope includes slow-onset, man-made and bio hazards; Set of global targets; Set of guiding principles; Promoting Coherence across post-2015 development agenda
Innovations Articulation of governance to manage disaster risk, including role of national platforms; Understanding, tackling disaster risk drivers; Preparedness to build back better ; Strengthened accountability for disaster risk management; Recognition of stakeholders and their roles; Mobilization of risk-sensitive investment; Global and Regional Platforms vehicles for coherence, monitoring and periodic reviews; Resilience of health infrastructures, cultural heritage, and work places;
Expected Outcome Focus on disaster risk in addition to earlier focus on disaster loss in Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) Focus on livelihoods, health and physical and cultural assets, in addition to lives and social, economic and environmental assets The substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities and countries (paragraph 16)
Goal Focus on preventing new disaster risks, reducing existing disaster risks that also strengthen resilience Calls various measures to prevent and reduce hazard exposure and vulnerability, increase preparedness and recovery Prevent new and reduce existing disaster risk through the implementation of integrated and inclusive economic, structural, legal, social, health, cultural, educational, environmental, technological, political and institutional measures that prevent and reduce hazard exposure and vulnerability to disaster, increase preparedness for response and recovery, and thus strengthen resilience (paragraph 17)
Sendai Framework for DRR and Climate Change Embedding DRR in sustainability is manifested in SFDRR 2015-2030 adopted in Japan in March 2015 at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. SFDRR offers a great opportunity for integrated approach to develop sustainably by preventing and avoiding new risk, by reducing existing risk and by strengthening social and economic resilience. SFDRR recognized the importance of addressing climate change as one of the drivers of disaster risk, while respecting the mandate of UNFCCC on Climate Change. This represents an opportunity to reduce risk in a meaningful and coherent manner throughout inter-related intergovernmental processes.
Sendai Framework for DRR and Climate Change SFDRR Means of Implementation emphasized that its necessary to Incorporate DRR measures into multilateral and bilateral development assistance programmes within and across all sectors, as appropriate, related to poverty reduction, sustainable development, natural resource management, environment, urban development and adaptation to climate change. SFDRR Priority 1 on Understanding Disaster Risk calls for global and regional actions to promote the conduct of comprehensive surveys on multi-hazard disaster risks and the development of regional disaster risk assessments and maps, including climate change scenarios
Sendai Framework for DRR and Climate Change SFDRR Priority 2 on Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk calls for national and local actions to Prepare or review and periodically update disaster preparedness and contingency policies, plans and programmes with the involvement of the relevant institutions, considering climate change scenarios and their impact on disaster risk. SFDRR Priority 2 also calls for regional and global actions to Foster collaboration across global and regional mechanisms and institutions for the implementation and coherence of instruments and tools relevant to DRR, such as for climate change, biodiversity, sustainable development, poverty eradication, environment, agriculture, health, food and nutrition and others, as appropriate