Bangladesh: Climate change and need for disaster risk reduction
by M Mizanur Rahman and Shammunul Islam
In 2007, the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters named the top five countries in the world hit the hardest by natural disasters. The first there was Bangladesh, India was the second and Pakistan was in the fourth place. It is now widely accepted that climate change has a direct impact on the prevalence and seriousness of disasters. There has been a phenomenal increase in their frequency, severity and unpredictability. Higher rainfall, changing temperatures and rising sea levels are likely to make natural disasters more frequent. Adaptation to climate change and Disaster Risk Reduction or DRR both seek to reduce vulnerability and achieve sustainability. Indeed, efforts are growing to link DRR and climate change adaptation more closely in policy and practice.
Disaster Risk Reduction has been high on the international agenda since the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. In January 2005, 168 governments agreed on the Hyogo Framework for Action, a detailed set of priorities to minimise losses – human lives as well as community and other assets – by 2015. DRR aims to reduce risk and minimise the effects of a disaster by building safe homes in flood-risk prone areas, implementing early warning systems, or developing saline-resistant varieties of rice, for example.
DRR is integral to adaptation – the ‘first line of defence’ against climate change impacts such as flooding from glacier melt or sea-level rise. DRR knowledge and expertise on building resilience is a useful starting point for adaptation policies. In turn, the DRR community, it is argued, needs to think more about the longer term impacts of climate change-related disasters such as the loss of biodiversity, deforestation and soil erosion.
Local communities are often the most directly affected by disasters, but they also possess important local knowledge, passed down through generations, to manage risk. The poorest are the most vulnerable to risk. They will probably have no savings or safety net and no alternative source of income or food if, for example, a flash flood destroys their home and livelihood. Reducing people’s vulnerability at the community level – being better prepared – means they will be more resilient to natural hazards.
A community-based livelihoods approach puts people first and aims to strengthen their ability to prepare for, cope with, and recover from shocks and hazards. We need to link this approach to wider national and institutional initiatives to encourage local government officials and policymakers to respond more effectively to poor people’s needs. Coupled with disaster preparedness and contingency planning that build on people’s own coping mechanisms, communities can now manage hazardous situations more effectively and recover more quickly. The communities involved assessed their own situation, using participatory tools. They identified local risks, discussed their strengths and weaknesses, and their assets and deficiencies. They explored ways to strengthen their existing coping strategies and skills. Communities also voluntarily formed community-based organisations to lead in identifying and implementing local development activities.
All of this has reinforced community cohesion and emphasised the value of collective action during adverse times. Other community activities included drama and school-based campaigns to raise DRR awareness, and community meetings to demonstrate what to do before flooding occurs, how to respond to early warning messages, where to find safe shelter during floods, how to stockpile household assets in case of emergency and so on.
Bangladesh is facing various challenges among which consequences of climate change and frequent disasters are the most burning. Again, the way we are loosing our nature sustaining components such as rivers, trees, biodiversity and so forth, we are heading towards a more dangerous age to be faced by the upcoming generations. We are responsible, but not the most prepared for the climatic change, even though we are one of the most vulnerable countries of the world. Being a poor country, we have little role to play in the international politics and that is why we have a minor voice to throw while making international policies. So, it is wise to have our own agenda in reducing our loss and so, DRR has become the focus in countries like ours.
Bangladesh estimates that it needs $5 billion to kick start its adaptation programmes by 2015. The government is certainly taking an assertive position in international negotiations, claiming as much as 15 per cent of any climate fund earmarked for developing countries. The justification is that more people will be affected in Bangladesh than elsewhere. But, with looking for external help, we also need to ensure that the initiative is made effective by proper utilisation of the fund received, monitoring of activities and above all, keeping people away from doing anything adverse to our environment. Better knowledge management system, quick and proper information and promotion of DRR system are vital in a country like ours.
Given the challenges posed by climate change, it is important that disaster risk management interventions help people manage and create sustainable changes that will allow them to adapt over time, as well as protect them from disasters. The development of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System, according to the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, is a major achievement. Awareness of disaster risk in the area is now far higher, thanks in part to the Hyogo Framework for Action.
It is a must, therefore, to adapt to the changing circumstances of climate. Adaptation requires assessment of vulnerability from the viewpoint of different disciplines and community, which then requires an integrated approach to figure on. Only then we can go for mainstreaming the adaptation strategies and for making people aware of all the things that will help lessen the losses from disasters.
M Mizanur Rahman is an assistant director at D.Net and a graduate of development studies at the University of Dhaka. Email: mithunmds07@gmail.com. Shammunul Islam is a graduate of development studies at the University of Dhaka. Email: sha_is13@yahoo.com