5th International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2014 Integrative Risk Management - The role of science, technology & practice 24-28 August 2014 in Davos, Switzerland

1. Strengthening Local
Climate Change Adaptation
and DRR Strategies
in West Africa
Implementing Ecosystem-Based DRR
Jean-Marc Garreau
IUCN - West and Central Africa Programme

2. ©
An old reality in the Sahel
• Droughts and decrease rainfall during last
40 years
• More disasters anywhere, at various
geographical levels, sometimes very
limited in space
• Slow onset and long term consequences
• Affect poor people in degraded natural
environment
• Invisible – unrecorded small disasters

3. ©
Two Sahelian sites
• In Senegal, communities coastal
areas facing floods, soil and water
salinity
• In Burkina Faso communities facing
droughts and floods, sometimes
during the same year
• Population is growing fast in a
context of poverty
• Facing rapid environmental
degradation
• Communities get limited support
from the State
• Infrastructures are insufficient
Senegal
Burkina Faso

4. ©
Plan the change with disasters and
climate change
• Using a kit of eleven tools already known
such as CRiSTAL, journal of incidence,
climateproofing,…
• Support the communities to assess their
vulnerability, build DRR/adaptation
strategies, plan and monitor their
progress
• Selected techniques : soil restoration,
vegetation cover restoration
• Improving access rules and governance is
an important dimension of the strategies

5. ©
Adapted response
• Adapted to local needs and practices,
cheap and easily accessible as based on :
- ecosystem goods and services, such as
protection of people and their belongings,
as well as for reduction of exposure
- complex local knowledge and knowhow
• The project aims at
- demonstrating the best techniques and
strategies with support of science
- supporting dissemination of CC adaptation
tools, approaches and dialogues to reduce
communities’ vulnerability

6. ©
Factors ensuring success
• Flexible and locally managed
• Adapted to local practices, social and
technological preferences
• Cheaper because designed by those who
will implement them
• Reproducible at various scales
• Equitable, accessible to most people
• Strengthen the capacities of stakeholders
to satisfy their own needs even without
disasters
• Multi results : short term and long term
needs

7. ©
Involving key stakeholders
• Build capacities of local, sub national
governments, State technical services, to
mainstream DRR and CC adaptation into local
and sub regional development plans
• Build linkages between local to national
stakeholders through
– multiple scale planning and steering committees
– local fair on climate change
– exchange visits
• Approach integrated into national
development policies for
- food security,
- infrastructure development and for
climate change adaptation and
- against desertification

8. ©
Challenges
• Bring prevention as a national strategy
• Decision makers too much focused on :
– Science and modern style solutions
– Large infrastructure solutions
• Incomplete decentralisation process
because of limited trust in local capacities
• Limited research support

9. ©
Added value for the Post 2015 Framework
for Disaster Risk Reduction
• How did your work support the
implementation of the Hyogo Framework for
Action:
– Reducing vulnerability of rural communities
• From your perspective what are the main
gaps, needs and further steps to be addressed
in the Post 2015 Framework for Disaster Risk
Reduction in
– Research: Enhance ecosystems services, natural
infrastructure for DRR
– Education & Training:
– Implementation & Practice: Build on local
knowledge and capacities
– Policy: Enhance prevention approaches and
integrate natural solutions

10. ©
Main text + picture
Subtitle
Thank you
http://iucn.paco