CCWG

Adaptation Thematic Group

Guideline on

Mainstreaming of Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation into Development Programmes

Hanoi, July2010

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The publication of Guideline on mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation (DDR.CCA) into development programmes demonstrates great cooperation between Non-Governmental Organizations belongs to Climate Change Working Group.

The guideline has been completed in the context of Capacity Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) program has been launched by government with well documented standard procedures, experience. Meanwhile there has not had yet a common understanding with practical guidelines on how to mainstream DRR.CCA into sustainable development programmes.

Therefore, the development of guideline is aimed at fostering the mainstreaming of DRR.CCA into development programmes. This document provides a reference for implementers to mainstream CCA.DRR mainly during its proposal development and implementation.

The guideline has been developed by the openness to sharing material and contributing resources from NGOs. We would like to thank them for their commitment and their invaluable inputs on the development of this guideline.

The target audience of this guideline is the INGOs and VNGOs of the Climate Change Working Group. As it is likely to be used as a reference or support for other stakeholders belong to governmental agencies.

On behalf of Climate change working groups

ABBREVIATIONS

CC:Climate Change

CCA:Climate Change Adaptation

CCWG:Climate Change Working Group

CRiSTAL:Community-based Risk Screening Tool – Adaptation and Livelihoods

DFID:Department for International Development

DMWG:Disaster Management Working Group

DRR:Disaster Risk Reduction

IEC:Information, Education and Communication

INGO:International Non-governmental Organizations

IPCC:International Panel on Climate Change

MEL:Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

MoNRE:Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment

MARD:Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

MPI:Ministry of Planning and Investment

NGO:Non-governmental Organizations

NGO RC:Non-governmental Organizations Resources Centre

NTP: National Targeted Programme

ToR:Terms of Reference

ToT:Training of Trainers

VNGO:Vietnamese Non-governmental Organizations

SLF:Sustainable Livelihood Framework

GM:Gender Mainstreaming

Section I: Introduction

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges mankind has ever faced. Rising temperatures and changing weather patterns threaten past, present and future development efforts across the globe. The poorest inhabitants of our planet are among the most vulnerable, due to their lack of economic, environmental and social capacities to deal with the consequences of climate change. At the same time, development efforts can lead to higher greenhouse gas emissions, and thereby contribute to global warming.

According to the World Bank, Vietnam will be one of the five countries worst affected by sea level rise and more intense and frequent extreme weather. Even before sea level rise, Vietnam is vulnerable to natural disasters, particularly typhoons, floods, inundation, droughts, and saltwater intrusion. Under the pressures of an increase in population and exposure of socio-economic development, the climate change issues and extreme disasters present high risks to setbacks in development efforts and impacts. Mainstreaming disaster risk reduction and climate change into development is of great concern and is being increasingly discussed among NGOs and Government policy makers. It has been recognized that Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) should not only be any individual agency intervention but the roles and responsibilities of all sectors, agencies and individuals. This principle has been somewhat reflected in the National Strategies for Disaster Mitigation and Action Plan 2020 (NSDM&AP) and the National Framework of Action for Climate Change Adaptation (NFA), and the National Targeted Programme for Climate Changes (NTP).

While Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) has been well documented with standard procedures and experience, there’s not yet a common understanding with practical guidelines on how to mainstream community based CCA and DRR into sustainable development. The adaptation thematic group under the Climate Change Working Group (CCWG),in cooperation with the Disaster Management Working Group (DMWG), organized a workshop on climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and sustainable development which was followed by several CCWG meetings to share our experience, lessons, and challenges of Capacity Vulnerability Assessment (CVA) pilots in the field. The idea of developing the mainstreaming guidelines emerged during the Workshop and matured through consequent meetings of the group members. Thereby, CCWG in cooperation with DMWG and other concerned actors plan to organize a writing workshop to develop a mainstreaming guidelines of community based adaptation and DRR based on our initial field experience and existing guidelines from different organizations

1.1Purpose of this Guideline

This document provides a practical guide to assist developers, managers and coordinators of community-level projects in their efforts to mainstream climate change in their programme and projects. More specifically it aims at:

•Developing a common understanding of key concepts related to CCA, DRR and development programmes

•Understanding and applyingdisaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation mainstreaming processes into development programmes

•Serving as a reference for local planners and practitioners

It is the explicit purpose of this tool to integrate considerations of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation into community-level development activities. Therefore, it is expected to be simple and flexible, so even projects developers and managers with limited climate change knowledge can use it.

1.2Target audience of this Guideline

The Primary target is the INGOs and VNGOs of the Climate Change Working Groupand their target partners at the local level. As it is likely to be used as a reference or support for other stakeholders on mainstreaming, the secondary target will be other stakeholders including Government Agencies.

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Section II: Key information

2.1Key concepts

Adaptation: Adjustingthe way we live our lives or manage our natural resources in response to actual or expected changes in the climate to lessen harm or realise opportunities

Climate change[1]: (IPCC usage) Climate change as referred to in the observational record of climate occurs because of internal changes within the climate system or in the interaction between its components, or because of changes in external forcing either for natural reasons or because of human activities. It is generally not possible clearly to make attribution between these causes. Projections of future climate change reported by IPCC generally consider only the influence on climate of anthropogenic increases in greenhouse gases and other human-related factors..

Climate variability[2]: Climate variability refers to variations in the mean state and other statistics (such as standard deviations, the occurrence of extremes, etc.) of the climate on all temporal and spatial scales beyond that of individual weather events. Variability may be due to natural internal processes within the climate system (internal variability), or to variations in natural or anthropogenic external forcing (external variability).

Climate risk: Risk arising from climate change impacts (both chronic and catastrophic)

Chronic impacts:recurrentconditions such as higher temperatures, sea level rise, saline intrusions, subsiding water tables, more or less rainfall, less predictable seasons, etc.

Disasters[3]: A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.

Disaster risk reduction[4]: The concept and practice of reducing disaster risks through systematic efforts to analyse and manage the causal factors of disasters, including through reduced exposure to hazards, lessened vulnerability of people and property, wise management of land and the environment, and improved preparedness for adverse events.

Catastrophic impacts: Effects of climate disasters or shocks such as typhoons, hailstorms, droughts and sudden floods

Vulnerability: Conditions which increase the likelihood that a community will be negatively affected by climate change, resulting from a combination of exposure to climate conditions, how sensitive the community is to those conditions, and the capacity to adapt to those changes

Resilience: Capacity to maintain social and economic activities or structures in the face of climate change

Community-based adaptation (CBA) strategies include both traditional disaster risk reduction (DRR) measures which reduce vulnerability to catastrophic climate change impacts, and other measures which improve resilience to the more gradual chronic impacts. These can include establishing disaster early warning systems and building storm resistant houses; raising awareness of potential new health risks; and planting crops and trees more suited to warmer conditions.

Mainstreaming: The potential impacts of climate change and disasters are considered and appropriate adaptation measures are integrated as normal practice within ongoing program activities

Multiple-benefit projects: Projects that provide social and economic benefits, such as health improvement and options for livelihood diversification, in addition to reducing or storing emissions

Mitigation: Halting or reversing climate change before it happens by reducing greenhouse gas emissions at their source or storing them in carbon sinks

2.2Why we have to bother about mainstreaming:

2.2.1Climate variability and climate change:

The variability of the climate, particularly extremes resulting in climate-related disasters such as floods, droughts, and typhoons, is a fundamental cause of poverty in Viet Nam. Poor people, who have a limited coping capacity to current climate variability, may be pushed beyond this coping range if faced with more severe variations or with future climate change impacts. Climate change is likely to worsen poverty and hinder the country’s efforts to achieve its development objectives.

Climate variability and climate change, e.g. increased rainfall and temperature, will directly impact on poor people’s livelihoods, food security, water and sanitation, and health, social equity, and even peace and physical security will indirectly be affected with changes in communities’ livelihood resources. NGOs are working with people whose livelihoods are dependent on natural resources eg. fisheries, rangelands, water or forests which are very sensitive to both extreme climate events and long term conditions. They also have very limited capacity to cope. Recurrent exposure toadverse climatic conditions (e.g. persistent drought) or rare (extreme) climate events canpotentially weaken coping strategies and diminish livelihood resources. Thus our project interventions have to be carefully designed because our projects have immensepotential to enhance or diminish the capacity to cope with disasters as well as to adapt to long-term climate changes.

2.2.2Climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR)

Climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction have similar aims and are mutually supportive. Both DRR and CCA strategies are aimed at enhancing sustainable, resilient societies and human security. DRR activities support adaptation by reducing climate-related disaster risks and developing capacity to adapt to longer-term impacts of climate change. On the other hand, adaptation activities focus both on disaster risks and on changing conditions due to climate change, as well as addressing drivers of vulnerability[5].

A strong synergy between DRR and climate change adaptation has been recognized. In context of weather extreme/climate exposed country like Vietnam, DRR strategies are fundamental to climate change adaptation. At the same time, specific DRR initiatives will be strengthened by taking climate change predictions into account when planning. Increased collaboration between the DRR community and the climate change adaptation community will maximize these synergies and increase impact.

2.2.3Linking DRR and Adaptation with sustainable development

Livelihoods frameworks guide users in a systematic process of understanding how people use

diverse assets or resources (both tangible and intangible) to undertake a range of activities, in order to achieve important outcomes in their lives. These outcomes include satisfaction of basic rights, as well as sustainable access to basic needs like water, shelter, and food. Livelihoods analysis involves understanding how people access and control various mixes of resources and activities, how these can be affected by vulnerability context and how these differ within and among households in ways that affect their ability to achieve the outcomes they desire in their lives.It is influenced by external factors such as policies, institutions and power structures. Adaptive capacity can vary over time based on changing conditions, and may differ in relation to particular hazards. The analysis also helps us to determine how these are influenced by external factors such as gender and other social norms, policy frameworks, economic trends, and the physical environment. The mainstreaming process is designed to apply a disaster and climate “lens” to livelihoods analysis. It examines the influence of the physical environment, but also helps in understanding how people are using resources and what aspects of livelihoods are most vulnerable.

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Section III:Understand of DRR/CCA mainstreaming:

3.1What is mainstreaming?

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Integrating or mainstreaming of DRR and CCA into poverty reduction programming can increase the sustainability and impact of interventions in sectors such as water resources, agriculture, livelihoods and health. When we talk about integrating DRR and adaptation, we are describing a process of considering disaster and climate risks to development projects, and of adjusting project activities and approaches to

Mainstreaming is the process of fully incorporating disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation into development policy and practice so that it becomes normal practice, fully incorporated within on-going development activities.

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address those risks. The assumption is that the project has a goal related to poverty reduction, livelihood security, or improved wellbeing for target populations, and that the sustainability and impact of the initiative can be increased by integrating DRR and climate change adaptation. This is different from a “targeted” communitybased adaptation project, where the explicit goal is to build resilience to climate change.

3.2Objectives of mainstreaming:

Mainstreaming adaptation including DRR can achieve two main objectives:

- Reducing the risks posed by climate change to project activities, stakeholders, andresults, sometimes referred to as “climate-proofing”.

- Ensuring that project or program activities reduce the vulnerability of target populationsthrough interventions designed to build their resilience while achieving developmentgoals.

“Climate-proofing” is primarily concerned with protecting investments in, and results from, development initiatives from the impacts of climate change. It increases the sustainability

of projects by analyzing the risks posed by climate change to project activities,stakeholders and results, and by making adjustments to the project design orimplementation plan to mitigate those risks. For example, a water pump built on lowground may be damaged with an increase in the frequency and severity of floods,rendering it useless not long after it is built. By raising the pump above predicted floodheights, it will be protected and will be available as a source of safe water in the longerterm.

The second objective of integrating adaptation recognizes that activities that aim to reducepoverty can inadvertently increase the vulnerability of target populations, and thatadjustments to project activities and approaches can yield greater increases in resilience.By analyzing vulnerability of target populations to disasters and climate change, and adjusting projectactivities to maximize their contribution to resilience, the impact of development projectscan be significantly increased. For example, in an agricultural project, the selection oftechnologies and varieties can make a major difference in the impact the project will have.In a changing climate, production-oriented, high input agriculture may actually increasevulnerability, as the varieties may not be suited to shifting rainfall patterns, and thepurchase of inputs may require credit, which leaves a farmer in a risky position in theevent of crop failure. In this context, low-input techniques such as conservationagriculture and varieties which are suited to the current and projected climate conditions.(3 Klein,R.J.T. et al. 2007).

3.3Mainstreaming Strategies:

Mainstreaming DRR and CCA should consider the following strategies:

  • Promotion of climate-resilient livelihoods strategies in combination with income diversification and capacity building for planning and improved risk management;
  • Disaster risk reduction strategies to reduce the impact of hazards, particularly on vulnerable households and individuals;
  • Capacity development for CBOs, mass organizations and governmental institutions so that they can provide better support to communities, households and individuals in their adaptation efforts; and
  • Advocacy and social mobilization to address the underlying causes of vulnerability, such as poor governance, lack of control over resources, or limited access to basic services.

3.4Mainstreaming procedures:

The procedure of mainstreaming will be characterized by:

  • Is designed based on holistic analysis of vulnerability to disasters and climate change, examining both current and future climate risks
  • project outputs contribute to increasing resilience of local communities in the context of disasters and climate change
  • Uses scientific climate information as well as and local/traditional climate knowledge for planning
  • Integrates disaster risk reduction as a fundamental part of the approach
  • Adopts a longer-term vision by planning and implementing interventions that enhance resilience to current disasters and climate variability, while preparing communities to adapt to anticipated longer-term climatic changes
  • Uses climate risk screening to ensure resilience of project activities to climate impacts
  • Recognizes that context, needs and priorities are dynamic, and incorporates flexibility to manage this

3.5DRR/CCA Mainstreaming Principles:

3.5.1Community based approach:

Community-basedAdaptation to Climate change (CBA), which aims to build the capacity of local people to develop under, and adapt to, a changing climate. CBA generates adaptive strategies through participatory processes, building on existing cultural norms, and also addressing local development issues that make people vulnerable to the impacts of climate change in the first place