Integration of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA)—Global and Bangladesh perspectives and Way Forward

-Shah Muhammad Nasim* ndc

DRR looks to reduce the risk of both natural and man-made disasters through reducing exposure and vulnerability of people and property and increasing preparedness for such events, while CCA looks to make adjustments to reduce the potential negative impacts of climate change on society with regard to both climate extremes and gradual changes in mean climate. Despite their similarities, CCA and DRR are frequently handled independently, separated by institutional and administrative boundaries in most of the countries of the world including Bangladesh. It is well known that Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, as well as one of the most disaster prone. Bangladesh’s flat topography, low-lying and climatic features, combined with its population density and socio-economic environment, make it highly susceptible to many natural hazards, including floods, droughts, cyclones and earthquakes. More than 80 percent of the population is potentially exposed to floods, earthquakes and droughts, and more than 70 percent to cyclones. On average, the country experiences severe tropical cyclone almost every year, and about 25 percent of the land mass is inundated with flood waters every year. Severe flooding occurs every 4-5 years and covers 60 percent of the land mass. Following the devastating cyclones of 1970 and 1991, Bangladesh has made significant efforts to reduce its disaster vulnerability and is today considered a global leader in coastal resilience due to its significant long-term investments in protecting lives. Despite these efforts, the vulnerability of the coastal population is on the rise due to climate change. Its capital, Dhaka, is among the most at-risk cities in the world with its high population density and rapid urbanization located in an area of valuable assets that are also extremely vulnerable to earthquakes. The hazard risk to Dhaka and Bangladesh’s urban areas is not yet well understood and yet to be addressed. UN-ESCAP once reported that Asia and Pacific is the world’s most disaster-prone region where a person living in the region is 4 times riskier than those in Africa and 25 times than in Europe or North America. Bangladesh (4th) was one of the top most 10 disaster affected countries of the world in 2020 and every year it encounters two cyclone and 3-4 times flash flood disasters. The flash floods in Bangladesh since 22 August 2024 were caused by intense rainfall coupled with huge volume of water flows from the upstream, have severely impacted over 5.8 million people spread over 11 districts in the eastern region of the country and the death toll reached 71 which indicates the devastating loss and damages caused due to that flood induced by climate change impacts.

Former UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon once (10 July 2019) mentioned that Bangladesh is the “best teacher” in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. That’s why Bangladesh has been successfully passing through fifth generations of disaster management evolution process started from 1) life-saving & relief, 2) flood & cyclone preparedness, 3) institutional preparedness, 4) community preparedness and 5) whole-of-government to the whole-of-society approach for DRR. Now time demands that Bangladesh needs to take policy initiatives in bringing about integration of DRR and CCA Approach as an uplift to a new milestone of sixth generation evolution of DRRM.?

As a matter of fact, I used to discuss on DRR & CCA integration matters in some interactive academic forum or policy level platform while I served in the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief (MoDMR) in 2020-2021 period. During those times, I had the impression that MoDMR’s all energies, efforts, capacities and valuable resources had been spent or focused only on disaster risk reduction (DRR)oriented activities and the part of Climate Change Adaptation (CCA)activities was dealt with by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) as mandated in the GoB’s Rules of Business passed by GoB cabinet. When the global climate change issues related platforms and experts have been advocating and pursuing for effective integration between CCA and DRR efforts with a view to proper and effective utilization of scarce resources by streamlining a concerted efforts towards adaptation to and mitigation of climate change induced natural disasters in disaster prone countries since long years. Our Bangladesh is still making DRR and CCA efforts separately through MoDMR and MoEFCC respectively by not giving importance of integration between CCA and DRR efforts. Time demands that GoB needs to redesigning its policy for integration of CCA and DRR Efforts under unified institutional framework. The international scientists evidently announced that all natural disasters are the outcome of climate change. The signs of climate change are felt and seen in every country as the temperatures are rising world-wide due to greenhouse gases trapping more heat in the atmosphere, droughts are becoming longer and more extreme around the world, tropical storms becoming more severe due to warmer ocean water temperatures, as temperatures rise there is less snowpack in mountain ranges and polar areas and the snow melts faster, overall glaciers are melting at a faster rate, sea ice in the Arctic Ocean around the North Pole is melting faster with the warmer temperatures, permafrost is melting, releasing methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere, sea levels are rising, threatening coastal communities and estuarine ecosystems. As the climate change is affecting the hydrological cycle and increasing the frequency and intensity of storms. These lead to death, loss of livelihoods and displacement and place a huge burden on society. Over 90 per cent of disasters are weather-related, including drought and aridification, wildfires, pollution and floods. They lead to death, injury, loss of livelihoods and displacement and place a huge burden on societies, economies and the environment. Considering those implications, at the UN 2023 Water Conference, Member States took important steps to acknowledge the interactions between climate, resilience, water and the environment. UNEP works through partnerships such as the Water and Climate Coalition, which brings climate change and water to the same table – tackling them as one. Healthy freshwater ecosystems – which comprise wetlands such as peatlands, lakes, groundwater aquifers and rivers – can help to keep the planet cool, mitigate the impact of flooding by filtering and retaining water, and boost resilience through water storage. Moreover, international disaster reduction efforts have been developing vigorously for more than 30 years. Global actions on climate change mitigation and adaptation also go back more than 30 years. A landmark year for DRR, CCA, and sustainable development was 2015 because three important events occurred in that year—the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015?2030, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Paris Agreement under the UNFCCC were adopted by the international community. Looking back in history can help us understand the governance of international DRR and CCA, and their important processes and context. Since then DRR and CCA have become the core themes for international sustainable development. Some previous studies have considered that CCA is a subset of disaster risk reduction and one of many processes within disaster risk reduction. This may not be the case, however, in many ways, disaster risk reduction and CCA have overlapping aims and involve similar kinds of intervention. Therefore, many studies have suggested that addressing CCA and DRR together could be more beneficial, and various studies have also explored ways and barriers of integrating DRR with CCA, as well as mainstreaming both into development.

The international scientific community has warned that without quick actions on the following three urgent issues, the severe damage and impacts of climate change and extreme events will not only put the achievement of the SDGs out of reach but also erode the hard-won development gains of the past. The first issue is that as human-induced climate change, including more frequent and intense extreme events, has affected and will continue to threaten the lives and livelihoods of millions to billions of people, the challenges of how to significantly reduce the emerging risks of climate change are enormous. Currently, climate-related disasters account for more than 80% of disasters caused by natural hazards. Around the world 3.3?3.6 billion people live in areas of high vulnerability to climate change. The second issue is that under higher warming scenarios (for example, 3?4 °C) it is almost certain that Planet Earth will cross tipping points, leading to irreversible changes in ecosystems or climate patterns, which will significantly limit our ability to adapt. The challenges of how to address the adaptation limits that are already being confronted across the world will only increase. For example, in high-emission scenarios, week-long heat extremes that break records by three or more standard deviations are two to seven times more probable in 2021–2050 and three to 21 times more probable in 2051–2080, compared to the last three decades. Building codes in many areas have to be modified and even redesigned. The third issue is the lack of scientific research to better understand the mechanisms of systemic risks caused by climate change in the context of deep uncertainty. For example, record-shattering extremes—nearly impossible in the absence of warming—are likely to occur in the coming decades, which may lead to the emergence of systemic risks with large-scale, non-linear, and cascading consequences in socioeconomic systems. Deep uncertainty is mainly reflected in three aspects, including uncertain scenarios of climate change, uncertain consequences of decision making, and uncertain schemes of decision making. Due to the deep uncertainty of the changes, over- or under-adaptation can occur, leading policymakers and planners to make suboptimal decisions.

The UN 2030 agenda includes 17 SDGs and 169 associated targets. These development goals all closely interact and influence climate change and disaster risks. For example, Goal 9 building resilient infrastructure, Goal 11 building inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities and human settlements, and Goal 13 taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts, all are directly related to DRR and CCA. Many of these 169 associated targets also involve reducing disaster risks and disaster impacts. For example, one of the specific targets of Goal 1 is to build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social, and environmental shocks and disasters by 2030. Disasters put development at risk, and losses caused by climate change and extreme events may severely hinder many countries from achieving SDGs. At the same time, the realization of the SDGs will also help reduce human vulnerability to climate change and disasters, thereby greatly reducing disaster risks.

Climate change adaptation and DRR have similarities and differences in their scope and emphasis. The common aim of CCA and DRR is to manage the risk induced by weather/climate-related hazards, including extreme events and climate-related creeping environmental changes, which is part of climate risk management. Their difference is that DRR not only deals with hydrometeorological disaster risk closely related to climate change, but also manages risks caused by other natural hazards, such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. In addition, DRR focuses more on reducing the potential losses of people and assets. Climate change adaptation also has its focus areas, such as the impact of climate change on ecosystems and biodiversity, and infectious diseases and health. According to the Adaptation Gap Report 2022 (UNEP 2022), CCA actions are currently mainly focused on agriculture, water, ecosystems, and cross-cutting sectors. Disaster risk reduction and CCA are two major areas of integrated risk management (Fig. 1), thus both should be joined within the integrated risk management that is an important pillar and field of resilient, sustainable development. Under the framework of resilient development, there are two areas that are closely related to climate change and DRR, that is, emergency management and climate change mitigation (Fig. 1). The synergistic effects of integrated risk management, emergency management, and climate change mitigation will effectively ensure safe growth and resilient development.

Many studies also discussed how increasing frequency and severity of climate-related extreme events can lead to devastating physical, environmental and socio-economic impacts disrupting development objectives. Examples include increased severity of floods with record-breaking water levels in some low-lying countries such as Bangladesh and Maldives. Historically, in many countries, climate change and disaster risk specialists have often operated in isolation from one another. A growing number of actions that aim to develop mechanisms for effective integration of DRR and CCA and propose how integration could take place in developing or developed countries. It is needless to say integrating DRR and CCA remains a challenge in practice, though a few studies has? identified the strategies for effective integration of DRR and CCA. One study team made an attempt to identify the strategies for the integration of DRR and CCA in Bangladesh by exploring from the existing literature and opinions of the stakeholders of DRR and CCA in Bangladesh. That study tried to answer two interrelated questions: a) What are the main arguments for integrating DRR and CCA stated in the literature? b) What are the strategies for the effective integration of DRR and CCA in Bangladesh? Academic literature and recent international policy documents suggest potentials of conceptually and practically linking the fields of Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and emphasize the need to mitigate climate-related risks at local level. The practical barriers to effectively linking DRR, and CCA are categorized by Birkmann and von Teichman (2010) into the following three key areas: (a) scales, (b) knowledge, and (c) norms. Thus, integrating DRR and CCA more effectively requires further improvements combining across the different scales and reducing the mismatches on which the DRR, and CCA communities primarily focus. Other key challenges to effective integration of DRR and CCA found in the studies include- lack of capacities of actors and institutions, policy gaps, governance failure, lack of collaborations and coordination; and funding mechanisms. In Mexico, a study demonstrated the interplay of actors and institutions surrounding DRR and CCA, and their influence in integration. More depth studies are necessary for understanding the nature, extent and consequences of interplay in different contexts. Many experts also discussed on which potential and actual actors should be involved in the process of DRR and CCA integration; and showed the progress of DRR and CCA policy integration in the Philippines. One study presents examples of policies and practices in the UK that support the integration of CCA and DRR for flood resilience. The aim of this was to present existing linkages that could be exploited or expanded to further CCA and DRR integration in the UK and through a review of these practices, present potentially useful lessons learned for others wishing to integrate CCA and DRR. More local level case studies are required to assess and evaluate the potential strategies for successful integration of DRR and CCA in different contexts.

Conclusion

In view of the above discussion based on global perspectives, DRR and CCA integration in Bangladesh is undoubtedly a challenging task. Bangladesh needs to go for depth studies through relevant experts who deal with integration of CCA and DRR approaches as well as needs to think for redesigning its policy for integration of CCA and DRR Efforts under unified institutional framework for obtaining good outcome in this regard. ?Internationally the UNISDR, UNFCCC, and IPCC are engaged in linking DRR and CCA, and country-level organizations such as DRR and CCA related ministries and institutions are also engaged in linking these two issues through policies and practices. The progress of linking is actively implemented by government, nongovernment, international funding institutions across the global, regional, national and local levels. In the context that more than three years of the COVID-19 pandemic have affected all dimensions of social-ecological systems, and six years of the 2015?2030 sustainable development agenda is still? remaining for implementation, the following three objectives need to be fulfilled through conducting depth studies by CCA-DRR related international and national authorities concerned : (1) review the challenges, impacts, and risks of climate change and extreme events; (2) summarize the agenda and concept evolution of international DRR, CCA, and sustainable development since 1990; and (3) discuss the governance mechanisms and practices of integration of DRR and CCA—and their linkages with sustainable and resilient development—employed by the members of the international community over the past 30 years. Such work could help us find ways to achieve the goals set by the United Nations’ Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) 2015?2030, the Paris Agreement, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

*The writer was former Additional Secretary (Planning & Development) of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, GoB and can be reached at [email protected] and linkedin.com/in/shah-muhammad-nasim-ndc-22374929 This article was written on the occasion of International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction(IDDRR) held on 13 October 2024

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