Integrating community based disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation: examples from the Pacific

Abstract

Abstract. It is acknowledged by academics and development practitioners alike that many common strategies addressing community based disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation duplicate each other. Thus, there is a strong push to integrate the two fields to enhance aid effectiveness and reduce confusion for communities. Examples of community based disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) projects are presented to highlight some of the ways these issues are tackled in the Pacific. Various approaches are employed but all aim to reduce the vulnerability and enhance the resilience of local communities to the impacts of climate change and disasters. By focusing on three case studies, elements of best practice are drawn out to illustrate how DRR and CCA can be integrated for enhanced aid effectiveness, and also look at ways in which these two often overlapping fields can be better coordinated in ongoing and future projects. Projects that address vulnerability holistically, and target the overall needs and capacity of the community are found to be effective in enhancing the resilience of communities. By strategically developing a multistakeholder and multi-sector approach, community projects are likely to encapsulate a range of experience and skills that will benefit the community. Furthermore, by incorporating local knowledge, communities are far more likely to be engaged and actively participate in the project. From selected case studies, commonly occurring best practice methods to integrate DRR and CCA are identified and discussed and recommendations on how to overcome the common challenges also presented.

Psychological Resilience Building in Disaster Risk Reduction: Contributions from Adult Education

“…Community-based approaches that build capacity on the family, local, and national levels have been used, for example, in strategies of preparedness for a variety of hazards by organizations such as Palang Merah Indonesia and the Canadian Red Cross in Aceh Province and on Nias Island (Kafle 2010) (Gero et al 2011). In such strategies the focus is on the enhancement of community capacities such as new agriculture practices, communication structures, institutional capacities, and funding channels.…”

Comparing perceived effects of climate-related environmental change and adaptation strategies for the Pacific small island states of Tuvalu, Samoa, and Tonga

“…In order to enhance adaptive behavior and improve coping capacity, a holistic communicative approach needs to relate 1) to perceptions and future expectations of change, and 2) to the perceived efficiency of adaptive strategies (Grothmann & Patt, 2005;Moser, 2014;Beyerl et al, 2016). Integrated into local customs, communicative approaches should not only raise awareness about climate change per se but also focus on various types of effective and feasible coping strategies, training of necessary skills, assistance in obtaining essential items and materials, and support for selfefficacy (Moser, 2014;McNaught et al, 2014;Scott-Parker et al, 2016;Rudiak-Gould, 2014;Nunn, 2009;van Aalst, 2008;Mercer, 2010;Gero et al, 2011;Mercer et al 2012).…”

“…Traditional practices of adaptation and modern technological opportunities, as well as questions of governance and communication have been examined in order to assess the abilities of the island communities to cope with impacts of rising sea levels or extreme weather events including storms, flooding, and drought (Kelman & West 2009;McMillen, 2014;Campbell, 2009;Lefale, 2010;Fakhruddin et al, 2015;Nunn 2009;Lata & Nunn, 2012;McNaught et al;. In light of the disruptive nature of climate-related environmental change, the benefit of integrating climate change adaptation and disaster risk management has been acknowledged, and community-based coping strategies are increasingly seen as advantageous and promising approaches (van Aalst, et al, 2008;Mercer, 2010;Gero et al, 2011;Pacific Community et al, 2016).…”

Toward a Sustainable and Resilient Future

“…Among the most successful disaster risk management and adaptation efforts have been those that have facilitated the development of partnerships between local leaders and other stakeholders, including extra-local governments (Bicknell et al, 2009;Pelling and Wisner, 2009;Gero et al, 2011). This allows local strength and priorities to surface in disaster risk management, while acknowledging also that communities (including local government) have limited resources and strategic scope and alone cannot always address the underlying drivers of risk (Bhattamishra and Barrett, 2010).…”