90 / 168
[
] 90
Risk reduction and adaptation:
good concepts with great challenges
Hassan Ahmad and Siti Sayadi, Mercy Relief, Singapore
H
umans are the definite perpetrators of climate change and
have in due course also suffered its backlash. Climate
change exacerbates poverty, as erratic weather induces
environmental disasters such as drought, flooding and soil degra-
dation that lead to displacement and food shortage issues. The
impacts of climate change fall disproportionately on developing
countries and poor people in all countries – in other words, those
who have contributed least to greenhouse gas emissions. This will
in turn worsen existing inequities in health status and access to
adequate food, clean water and other resources.
Given the escalating occurrences of natural disasters, it is impera-
tive that national strategists and humanitarian implementers put
in place critical processes and capacity-building strategies, driven
by risk reduction and adaptation initiatives to prepare vulner-
able communities for future calamities. As the implementation of
appropriate disaster risk reduction (DRR) measures is an impor-
tant element in disaster management, the lack of them could lead
to significant loss and damage to human and materials and could
hamper economic wealth of the society, along with disruption
to its essential functions and development goals mapped by the
Government.
DRR can be defined as the concept and practice of reducing
disaster risks through systematic efforts to analyse and manage the
causal factors of disasters, including reduced exposure to hazards,
lessened vulnerability of people and property, wise management of
land and the environment, and improved preparedness for adverse
events.
Integrative humanitarian actions to address both climate
change adaptation (CCA) and DRR efforts need to create an
enabling environment for improved early warning, informa-
tion management and community-based disaster preparedness.
Ultimately, responding to disaster should be seen a development
action, the advocacy potential from the disaster’s profile itself
offering opportunities to build longer-term agendas. Within the
framework of DRR there have already been efforts to integrate
development and humanitarian perspectives through key policy
commitments like the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA). What
is needed now is a scaling up of investment at the local level in
the achievement of both development goals incorporating the
outcomes of the HFA.
The Stockholm Plan of Action for Integrating Disaster Risks and
Climate Change Impacts in Poverty Reduction (October 2007), with
participation from governments, bilateral and multilateral agencies,
civil society organizations, experts and researchers, outlines five
recommendations for linking these related fields. These are:
1. DRR and CCA cannot be dealt with in isolation
2. Risks due to disasters and climate change must be
known and measured
3. Disaster and climate change risk analysis must
be integrated into national planning processes,
including the poverty reduction strategy process, in
each country
4. DRR and CCA are not sectors but need to be factors
in all sectors
5. Capacity-building is required at local, national,
regional, and global levels.
Adaptation to climatic variability consists of initiatives
and measures to reduce the vulnerability of natural
and human systems against actual or expected climate
change effects. As opposed to mitigation, climate change
adaptation (CCA) strategies outline practical actions
recommended to prepare for and respond to the potential
impacts of climate change. Adaptation can adopt a variety
of forms such as better education, training and awareness
of climate change and more technical measures which
include, inter alia, better coastal protection through
enhanced marine engineering, and use of non-seasonal
seeds for prolonged harvest. Adaptation strategies may be
implemented in an autonomous or planned manner and
differ in their scope to promote anticipatory or reactive
response and public or private participation.
Working in a region where 70 per cent of all natural
disasters occur, it is an obvious choice for Singapore-
based humanitarian relief and development organisation
Mercy Relief to focus its operational mandate on allevi-
ating the sufferings of disadvantaged and distressed in
Asia. As an implementing outfit, Mercy Relief focuses
directly on the work and has steered away from working
within closed-door adaptation strategies that have
seemingly provided lacklustre and less-than realistic
solutions to the challenges faced by rural communi-
ties. Mercy Relief’s work is centred on serving the very
people who suffer the negative brunt of climate change
and addressing their immediate subjective wants rather
than gradual objective needs, indicating the organiza-
tion’s intent to tackle risk reduction at community level.
With the implementation of risk management
processes through its disaster recovery and sustain-
able developmental programmes, Mercy Relief has
discovered the importance of putting forward a
2023