International Perspectives on Disaster Management and linkages with Climate Change (with certain country experiences)

1
International Perspectives on Disaster Management
and linkages with Climate Change (with certain
country experiences)

• Aseem Andrews
• Senior Specialist, National Disaster Management
  Authority (NDMA), Government of India

2
Presentation Plan

• IDNDR
• 1st World Conference, Yokohalma, 1994
• ISDR
• 2002 Johannesburg Plan of Action, WSSD
• Global Platform for DRR
• 2nd World Conference, Kobe, 2005 HFA
• Africa Regional Strategy

Section 1 International Perspectives
Section 2 Approaches and paradigm shift
internationally

• From Reactive to proactive approach
• Linear model to DRR Framework
• Economic and other impacts

Section 3 Country experiences

• China
• Brazil
• Bangladesh
• USA

Section 4 DRR linkages with Climate Change
3
What this presentation is and what it is not

• This presentation is a purely academic
  presentation giving conceptual information on
  International Disaster Management perspectives
• This presentation explores academic and
  conceptual linkages between Disaster Risk
  Reduction (DRR) and climate change (CC)
• This presentation further encapsulates factual
  details of important related frameworks,
  processes, and conventions agreed to by nations
  for DRR and CC.
• This presentation does not speculate on
  contentious issues within the domain of current
  climate change dialogue.

4
Disaster Reduction An agenda in Progress
internationally

• 1989 IDNDR 1990-1999 promotion of disaster
  reduction, technical and scientific buy-in
• 1994 Yokohama Strategy and Plan of Action
  Mid-review IDNDR, first blueprint for disaster
  reduction policy guidance (social community
  orientation)
• 2000 International Strategy for Disaster
  Reduction (ISDR) - increased public commitment
  and linkage to sustainable development, enlarged
  networking and partnerships. Mechanisms
  IATF/DR, ISDR secretariat, UN Trust Fund
• 2002 Johannesburg Plan of Implementation- WSSD
  Includes a new section on An integrated,
  multi-hazard, inclusive approach to address
  vulnerability, risk assessment and disaster
  management
• 2005 Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015
  Building the Resilience of Nations and
  Communities to Disasters (ISDR5)
• Strategic goals
• Priorities for action
• Implementation and follow-up

5
IDNDR

• The United Nations General Assembly designated
  the 1990s as the International Decade for Natural
  Disaster Reduction (IDNDR). Its basic objective
  was to decrease the loss of life, property
  destruction and social and economic disruption
  caused by natural disasters, such as earthquakes,
  tsunamis, floods, landslides, volcanic eruptions,
  droughts, locust infestations, and other
  disasters of natural origin.
• UN GA Resolution 44/236 (22nd December 1989)

6
1st World Conference 23 27 May 1994 Yokohama
Strategy and Plan of Action

• IDNDR followed strictly techno-centric and
  scientific approach in beginning
• Yokohama conference in 1994 put socio-economic
  aspects as component of effective disaster
  prevention into perspective.
• It was recognized that social factors, such as
  cultural tradition, religious values, economic
  standing, and trust in political accountability
  are essential in the determination of societal
  vulnerability.

7
1st World Conference 23 27 May 1994 Yokohama
Strategy and Plan of Action

• To reduce societal vulnerability and therewith
  decrease consequences of natural disasters
  factors need to be addressed. However, the
  ability to address socio-economic factors
  requires knowledge and understanding of local
  conditions, which can in most cases - only be
  provided by local actors.
• A global strategy aiming at reducing the impacts
  of natural hazards therefore must include the
  development of national and sub-national
  mechanisms for disaster risk reduction.
• Within this context the IDNDR called on the
  UN-member states to establish National Platforms
  which would facilitate the adjustment of general
  disaster risk reduction objectives to
  national/local conditions, implement the agreed
  policies and expand the understanding and
  perception of the importance of disaster risk
  reduction on national levels.
• In practice, there remains a pressing need to
  revitalize and strengthen these national
  structures.
• The same resolution designated the second
  Wednesday of October as International Day for
  Natural Disaster Reduction.

8
ISDR

• When it drew to an end, the IDNDR was replaced
  and continued by the International Strategy for
  Disaster Reduction (ISDR). The ISDR aims to
  pursue the initiatives and cooperation agreed on
  during the IDNDR, and developing new mechanisms
  as well as pushing for further commitments from
  policy-makers. The overriding goal is to reduce
  human, social, economic and environmental losses
  due to natural hazards (and related technological
  and environmental disasters). The building of
  disaster resilient communities is a main
  objective.

9
ISDR

• The ISDR promotes the following four objectives
  as tools towards reaching disaster reduction for
  all
• Increase public awareness to understand risk,
  vulnerability and disaster reduction globally.
• Obtain commitment from public authorities to
  implement disaster reduction policies and actions
  
• Stimulate interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral
  partnerships, including the expansion of risk
  reduction networks
• Improve scientific knowledge about disaster
  reduction

10
ISDR

• A global partnership towards disaster resilient
  communities

• Inter-Agency Task Force on Disaster Reduction
  (IATF/DR)
• Inter-Agency Secretariat of the ISDR (UN/ISDR)
• Regional outreach programmes
• National platforms
• Partner risk reduction networks

11
ISDR

• Contribution / Value Added
• Advocacy
• 2003 World Disaster Reduction Campaign
• Living with Risk
• UN Sasakawa Award for Disaster Reduction
• Periodicals ISDR Highlights (bimonthly), ISDR
  Informs Africa/Latin America the Caribbean
• Education and Training
• Promoting commitment from public authorities
• Promotion of ISDR National Platforms

12
ISDR

• Coordination
• Support to IATF/DR and working groups
• Providing policy inputs to partnerships for
  follow-up of WSSD
• Establishment of specific agreements
• Provide policy development support
• Visibility to disaster reduction within UN system
• Support international cooperation on El Niño and
  Early Warning
• Information Management
• Monitoring, review and assessment of disaster
  reduction initiatives
• Yokohama review process
• Information clearing house
• Networking for scientific knowledge development

13
2002 Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, WSSD

• World Summit on Sustainable Development
• Reinforced awareness of the need for risk and
  vulnerability reduction in order to secure
  sustainable development
• Imperative for development and environment
  sectors to channel investment into disaster
  reduction activities to complement and integrate
  humanitarian investments
• Johannesburg Plan of Implementation
• Commitments related to disaster and
  vulnerability reduction and improved early
  warning under the sections of protecting and
  managing the natural resource base of economic
  and social development, Africa, Small Island
  Developing States and means of implementation

14
Global Platform

• Resolution of the GA calling upon adoption by
  governments of the Hyogo Framework and recognizes
  the Global Platform as a successor mechanism to
  the Inter-Agency Task Force for Disaster
  Reduction.
• National practitioners and stakeholders
  repeatedly expressed desire to have a mechanism
  through which they can exchange their experiences
  in DRR and access information on how other
  countries addressed particular challenges in the
  implementation of the Hyogo Framework.
• The Global Platform has been set up to serve this
  need, and is expected to become main global forum
  for all parties involved in DRR, namely
  governments, United Nations agencies,
  international financial institutions, regional
  bodies, civil society, the private sector, and
  the scientific and academic communities.
• The Global Platform provides advocacy for
  effective action to reduce disaster risks,
  expands the political space devoted to the issue,
  and contributes to the achievement of the
  Millennium Development Goals particularly in
  respect to poverty reduction and environmental
  sustainability.

15
2nd World Conference, Kobe

• World Conference on Disaster Reduction is a
  United Nations conference bringing together
  government officials, non-governmental experts
  and other specialists from around the world to
  discuss the growing trend of people affected by
  natural disasters.
• A 2nd WCDR conference was held in Kobe, Japan
  January 18January 22, 2005.
• This conference took on particular poignancy
  coming almost 10 years to the day after the Great
  Hanshin earthquake in Kobe and less than a month
  after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and
  resulting tsunami.
• The Conference adopted plans to put in place an
  International Early Warning Programme (IEWP),
  which was first proposed at the Second
  International Conference on Early Warning in 2003
  in Bonn, Germany.

16
Key messages from Hyogo

• 2005 Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015
  Building the Resilience of Nations and
  Communities to Disasters (ISDR5)
• Integrate disaster risk reduction into policies,
  plans and programmes of sustainable development
  and poverty reduction
• United Nations system and international financial
  institutions to engage fully in supporting and
  implementing the International Strategy for
  Disaster Reduction, and cooperate to advance
  integrated approaches to building disaster
  resilient nations and communities
• Focus on national implementation, through
  bi-lateral, multi-lateral, regional and
  international cooperation.

17
HFA
18
Africa Regional Strategy

• Unique regional strategy adopted for natural
  disaster reduction for the African continent. The
  aim of the Strategy is to contribute to the
  attainment of sustainable development and poverty
  eradication by facilitating the integration of
  disaster risk reduction into development.
• The Strategys objectives are to
• (1) Increase political commitment to disaster
  risk reduction
• (2) improve identification and assessment of
  disaster risks
• (3) enhance knowledge management for disaster
  risk reduction
• (4) increase public awareness of disaster risk
  reduction
• (5) Improve governance of disaster risk reduction
  institutions and
• (6) Integrate of disaster risk reduction in
  emergency response management.
• Stakeholders AU/NEPAD, Regional Economic
  Communities (RECs), the Africa Working Group on
  Disaster Risk Reduction1, national governments,
  major groups (mainly civil society bodies and the
  private sector) and international development
  partners.
• Programme of Action, reviewed at several forums
  May/June 2004 a Meeting of Experts to discuss
  the Strategy, an African Regional Consultations
  on the 2005 World Conference on Disaster
  Reduction (WCDR), and the Second Meeting of the
  Africa Working Group on disaster risk reduction.
• Strategy adopted by African ministers at the 10th
  Meeting of the African Ministerial Conference on
  the Environment (AMCEN) from 26-30 June 2004 and
  submitted to the AU Assembly Summit, where the
  Strategy was positively received by Heads of
  State at the 3rd Ordinary Session of the Assembly
  in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 6-8 July 2004,
  with a call to develop a Programme of Action for
  its implementation.

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Section 2 Disaster Management Cycle
20
Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
ISDR global review of disaster reduction, 2002
21
Impact of Disasters
Less people die from disasters, but increased
number of disasters, economic losses and affected
population.
Source OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database
22
The Poor Most Vulnerable
Source ADRC, OFDA/CRED
23
Disaster Progression
Distribution of Disasters
24
Section 3 China

• Government initiated measures aimed at disaster
  preparedness and response under the State
  apparatus.
• The DRR in China includes pre-disaster
  decentralized management with separate fields and
  departments, the in-disaster integrated emergency
  management, and the post-disaster different-level
  cooperation between the central government and
  the local governments.
• Chinese disaster risk management system depends
  mainly on the central management, with the mutual
  cooperation between the central government and
  the local governments.

25
Brazil

• Disaster response highly decentralized
• In the event of a natural disaster, the affected
  municipality handles its own response. When the
  scope of the disaster exceeds the municipalitys
  capacity to respond, the regional office is
  called in, then the state, then the national
  level.
• This separation of powers is attributed to the
  Brazilian legal structure, which ascribes a great
  deal of autonomy to the state and local
  governments.

26
Bangladesh

• Project "Support to Comprehensive Disaster
  Management, 1993 with overall goal to reduce the
  human, economic and environmental costs of
  disaster in Bangladesh. One of the main elements
  for the development objective of the project was
  to increase the capacities of the households and
  local communities in the highly disaster prone
  areas through establishment of Local Disaster
  Action Plans (LDAPs) to cope with cyclones,
  floods and other potentially disaster situations.
  
• To maintain proper coordination amongst the
  concerned Ministries, departments, line agencies,
  Local Government Body (LGD) and community people,
  and also to ensure their proper functioning to
  mitigate sufferings of the people, the Government
  has formulated a set of mechanisms for Council
  and Committees from national down to the
  grass-root levels. For the mechanisms to be best
  operative, the Standing orders on Disaster (SOD)
  acts as a guidebook.
• The high powered National Disaster Management
  Council (NDMC) and In-Ministerial Disaster
  Management Co-ordination Committee (IMDMCC),
  developed as effective bodies to promote and
  coordinate risk-reduction, preparedness
  activities and mitigation measures, meet twice
  and four times a year respectively.

27
USA

• FEMA Federal Government response to natural and
  man made disasters
• Executive Order 12127 in 1979
• October 4, 2006 signed into law the Post-Katrina
  Emergency Reform Act to significantly reorganize
  FEMA, provided it substantial new authority to
  remedy gaps that became apparent in the response
  to Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and included
  more robust preparedness mission for FEMA.
• The National Response Framework (NRF) presents
  the guiding principles that enable all response
  partners to prepare for and provide a unified
  national response to disasters and emergencies.
  It establishes a comprehensive, national,
  all-hazards approach to domestic incident
  response effective March 22, 2008. Defines the
  principles, roles, and structures that organize
  how to respond as a nation. The National Response
  Framework
• describes how communities, tribes, states, the
  federal government, private-sectors, and
  nongovernmental partners work together to
  coordinate national response 
• describes specific authorities and best practices
  for managing incidents 
• builds upon the NIMS which provides a consistent
  template for managing incidents. 

28
Case of Hurricane Katrina
29
Global challenges for the future

• Increase wider understanding and awareness of
  disaster risk as an essential tool for
  sustainable development
• Recognize disaster risk reduction primarily as a
  combination of national and local
  responsibilities
• Raise awareness of existing misdirected
  development practices that may actually increase
  disaster risks
• Political commitment and understanding by public
  and private policy makers and local community
  leaders
• Promotion and support of policies and actions in
  developing countries by the international
  community

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Section 4 DRR linkages with Climate Change

• The Earths climate is very likely to change
  over the decades to come, owing to increases in
  concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases
  caused by human activity, with likely increases
  in temperatures, sea levels, and extreme weather
  events (heavy rainfalls, droughts, etc.)

31
Global Mean Temperature
32
Some areas are projected to become wetter, others
drier
33
Linkages between disaster risk reduction
climate change

• Both are development issues and share the same
  ultimate objective building sustainable
  resilient societies
• Face similar complexities challenges, rely on
  same type of measures and policies
• Concern all sectors and human activities
• Two-way needs disaster reduction is a no-regret
  option for adapting to climate change and a tool
  to select adaptation strategies that can bring
  quick wins to hasten adaptation and reduce its
  costs
• Mitigation of CC also contributes greatly to
  reducing risk and vulnerability to natural and
  technological disasters

34
Examples of disaster reduction tools for climate
change adaptation

• Disaster risk reduction applications
• Environmental management
• Financial and economic tool (insurance)
• Social aspects and safety nets
• Land use planning
• Protection of critical facilities
• Structural measures (engineering)
• Application of science and technology
• Early warning
• Identify successful disaster risk reduction
  practices what not to do!
• Institutional development policy development
  integration, legislation and organisational
  development
• Integrate disaster reduction into development
  planning processes
• Lessons learnt from community development
  grassroots coping strategies, local knowledge
  development and training
• Education risk perception/risk awareness/values,
  attitudes and behaviour

35
Common challenges for disaster risk and climate
change communities

• SIMILAR CHALLENGES
• Decreasing vulnerability
• Integration in sustainable development planning
• Poverty reduction
• Improving education/information/public awareness
• Comprehensive response
• Participatory processes
• Improving institutional capacity and efficiency

Disaster risk reduction
Climate change
Climatic hazards and risks
INCREASING ADAPTIVE CAPACITY INCLUDING OUTSIDE
EXPERIENCED COPING RANGE

• WIN WIN MEASURES
• Early warning systems, climate information, El
  Niño
• Disaster data, socio-economic impacts of
  disasters
• Risk and vulnerability assessments
• Financial and economic tools insurance
• Structural and physical measures
• Hazard control measures, flood drought
  management, coastal zone management
• Land use planning, urban risk and environmental
  management

36
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC)

• Intergovernmental body of Climate Change is the
  leading body for the assessment of climate
  change, established by the United Nations
  Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World
  Meteorological Organization (WMO) to provide the
  world with a clear scientific view on the current
  state of climate change and its potential
  environmental and socio-economic consequences.
• Scientific body that reviews and assesses the
  most recent scientific, technical and
  socio-economic information produced worldwide
  relevant to the understanding of climate change.
• Does not conduct any research nor does it monitor
  climate related data or parameters. Thousands of
  scientists from all over the world contribute to
  the work of the IPCC on a voluntary basis. Review
  is an essential part of the IPCC process, to
  ensure an objective and complete assessment of
  current information.

37
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change

• Over a decade ago, most countries joined an
  international treaty -- the United Nations
  Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
  -- to begin to consider what can be done to
  reduce global warming and to cope with whatever
  temperature increases are inevitable.
• The Convention on Climate Change sets an overall
  framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle
  the challenge posed by climate change.  It
  recognizes that the climate system is a shared
  resource whose stability can be affected by
  industrial and other emissions of carbon dioxide
  and other greenhouse gases.  The Convention
  enjoys near universal membership, with 192
  countries having ratified.Under the Convention,
  governments
• gather and share information on greenhouse gas
  emissions, national policies and best practices
• launch national strategies for addressing
  greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to expected
  impacts, including the provision of financial and
  technological support to developing countries 
• cooperate in preparing for adaptation to the
  impacts of climate change
• The Convention entered into force on 21 March
  1994.

38
Kyoto Protocol

• International agreement linked to the UNFCC. The
  major feature of the Kyoto Protocol is that it
  sets binding targets for 37 industrialized
  countries and the European community for reducing
  greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions .These amount to
  an average of five per cent against 1990 levels
  over the five-year period 2008-2012.
• The major distinction between the Protocol and
  the Convention is that while the Convention
  encouraged industrialised countries to stabilize
  GHG emissions, the Protocol commits them to do
  so.
• Recognizing that developed countries are
  principally responsible for the current high
  levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere as a
  result of more than 150 years of industrial
  activity, the Protocol places a heavier burden on
  developed nations under the principle of common
  but differentiated responsibilities.
• The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan,
  on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16
  February 2005. 184 Parties of the Convention have
  ratified its Protocol to date. The detailed rules
  for the implementation of the Protocol were
  adopted at COP 7 in Marrakesh in 2001, and are
  called the Marrakesh Accords.

39
Bali Road Map and Bali Action Plan

• After the 2007 United Nations Climate Change
  Conference on the island Bali in Indonesia in
  December, 2007 the participating nations adopted
  the Bali Road Map as a two-year process to
  finalizing a binding agreement in 2009 in
  Denmark.
• The Bali Road Map includes the Bali Action Plan
  (BAP) that was adopted by Decision 1/CP.13 of the
  COP-13. It also includes the Ad Hoc Working Group
  on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under
  the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) negotiations and
  their 2009 deadline, the launch of the Adaptation
  Fund, the scope and content of the Article 9
  review of the Kyoto Protocol, as well as
  decisions on technology transfer and on reducing
  emissions from deforestation

40
Copenhagen, 7 18, December , 2009

• World leaders had called for a comprehensive,
  ambitious and fair international climate change
  deal to be clinched at the United Nations Climate
  Change Conference (COP 15) in Copenhagen, 7-18
  December 2009
• Participants at the Copenhagen meeting had to
  come up with "a series of clear decisions" in
  order to have a treaty within six months after
  the conference ends. It will be designed to
  replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol (to prevent
  climate changes and global warming), which
  expires in 2012. A deadline for a legally binding
  document
• To keep the process on the line there was and is
  an urgent need for a new climate protocol.

41
Beyond Copenhagen

• There will be further climate negotiations
  through the year within the UN climate process
  and almost certainly in forums like the G20 too.
• One potential way forward is for Mexico, as hosts
  of COP16 (the next full summit) in 2010, to work
  on a potential treaty and tackle the outstanding
  issues and building consensus around strong
  action.

42
"More effective prevention strategies would save
not only tens of billions of dollars, but save
tens of thousands of lives. Funds currently spent
on intervention and relief could be devoted to
enhancing equitable and sustainable development
instead, which would further reduce the risk for
war and disaster. Building a culture of
prevention is not easy. While the costs of
prevention have to be paid in the present, its
benefits lie in a distant future. Moreover, the
benefits are not tangible they are the disasters
that did NOT happen."
Kofi Annan UN Secretary-General