1. Integrating Climate Change Adaptation and
Disaster Risk Reduction:Oxfam GB’s
Approach
Strengthening Climate Resilience (SCR) Regional Workshop
AACC, Nairobi, Kenya
25th June 2010
Brian Otiende
Climate Change Officer
1 Oxfam GB, Kenya Programme
Email: botiendeb@oxfam.org.uk
2. Introduction
1. Definitions
2. Oxfam GB’s Strategic Approach to CCA and
DRR
3. Oxfam GB Kenya Programme Initiatives
4. Challenges, Opportunities
5. Conclusions & recommendations
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3. Disaster Risk Management: Climate
Change Adaptation (CCA) and Disaster
Risk Reduction (DRR)
DRM- Use of administrative decisions, organizations,
operational skills and capacities to formulate and
implement policies, strategies and coping capacities of
communities to reduce the impacts of
hazards/disasters
CCA- Adjustments in natural and human systems in
response to actual or expected climatic stimuli/effects
which moderates harm or exploits benefits
Adjustments people and communities make (what & how) in
response to, or in anticipation of a changing climate
DRR- Conceptual framework of elements considered
with the possibilities to minimise vulnerabilities to
disaster risks & impacts (prevention, preparedness) in
the context of sustainable development context
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4. Disasters,Hazards and Risks?
Disaster – Product of human vulnerability and
physical hazards
Event overwhelming local capacity,
necessitating appeal for external assistance
from national or international level
Hazard-Potentially damaging physical event,
or human activity that may cause harm (loss
of life,injury, damage, social and economic
disruption or environmental degradation)
Risk-Probability of harmful consequences or
expected losses resulting from interaction
between natural or human induced hazard
and vulnerable conditions (impacts)
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5. Climatic Related Disasters and
Development
Climate variability and change is increasing
the frequency and intensity of hydro-
meteorological disasters (floods, droughts)
Climatic disasters have huge social and
economic costs therefore a major threat to
development
Disasters have the potential to stunt and
reverse development gains and goals
(national and MDGs)
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6. MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS POTENTIAL CLIMATE RISKS
MDG 1 Eradicate extreme poverty and Loss of livelihoods and assets, reduced
hunger economic growth, and undermined food
security.
MDG 2 Achieve universal primary Reduced ability of children to participate
education in full-time education by loss of
infrastructure, livelihoods (forcing children to
work), and displaced families.
MDG 3 Promote gender equality and Additional burdens on women as a most
empower women vulnerable group and time to participate in
decision-making and income-generating
activities.
MDGs Reduce child mortality; improve Greater prevalence of vector- and water-
4, 5, 6 maternal health; combat borne diseases, heat-related mortality.
HIV/AIDS, malaria and other Declining food security, maternal health and
diseases, availability of potable water stress.
water.
MDG 7 Ensure environmental Negatively impacted natural resources
sustainability and productive ecosystems.
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7. Oxfam GB and Climate Change
Development and humanitarian agency
working with others to overcome poverty and
suffering
CC is undermining Oxfam’s work and thus a
corporate organisational priority
Equity and justice- caused by the rich but
impacts fall hardest on the poor women and
men in developing countries who bear the
least responsibility
Urgency-even if emissions are cut rapidly
today, impacts are already being felt by those
living in poverty and may worsen hence need
to adapt to unavoidable impacts
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8. Strategic Approach
Climate Change Adaptation (CCA)
-Considered within Oxfam’s broader work on
development, humanitarian assistance and
advocacy & campaigns (mainstreaming)
-Responses vary tremendously and range from
short-term to long-term actions (coping
strategies and adaptive capacity and
resilience)
Climate change mitigation
-Advocating for rich countries to cut their
emissions to avert dangerous climate change
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9. Focus areas
Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)- humanitarian
assistance to droughts and floods victims
Sustainable Livelihoods (SL)- building
community resilience through livelihood
diversification amongst pastoralists,
agriculturists, urban lifestyles
Natural Resource Management (NRM)- water,
soil, arid and semi arid lands, coastal
ecosystems
Advocacy and campaigning on climate change
- Gender is a key consideration due to
differentiated impacts
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10. What does Climate Change Adaptation Mean for Oxfam?
Effective Adaptation What Adaptation is NOT
Managing and reducing Good programming alone
risks associated with CC Re-labelling existing work
Planning for long term One size fits all
impacts while reducing short
Same as coping strategies
term impacts
Climate-compatible
development
Address local social,
economic and climatic
context
Working at different levels
Integrated into
development, humanitarian,
advocacy & governance
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11. Integrating Climate Change Adaptation into
Disaster Risk Reduction
Common thread- Reduce people’s risk to climatic disasters
before, during and after disasters
Disaster Risk Reduction
Non climate-related Climate-related disasters Non-disaster related
disasters E.g., floods, droughts, climatic impacts
E.g., earthquakes hurricanes, storm surges E.g., temperature,
unpredictable rainfall, sea
level rise, saline intrusion
Incorporating robust Incorporating interventions that
predicted changes in support communities deal with
weather-related hazards gradual changes: focusing on
into DRR (history is an livelihoods, natural resource
increasingly unreliable guide management and national policy
to the future) and practise (I.e., enabling
environment)
Climate Change Adaptation
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12. Similarities and Differences between DRR
and CCA
Similarities
– Seek to build people’s resilience to hazards in the
context of sustainable development
– Minimize the human, social, economic costs
Differences
– Different policies, frameworks, funding channels
– DRR deals also with non-climate hazards, whereas
adaptation addresses longer-term impacts/changes
– DRR has a historical perspective based on prior
experiences, whereas CCA tends to be perceived as
having a future perspective and based on science
– DRR focuses on traditional knowledge, whereas CCA
can require resilience to risks that have not yet been
experienced
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13. Existing Opportunities and Linkages-DRR
and CCA
Adaptation under the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Bali Action Plan calls for:
– DRR to advance adaptation; and
– International cooperation to support
implementation of adaptation actions including
climate-resilient development and vulnerability
reduction
Hyogo Framework of Action’s 5 priority areas -a strategic
global approach to reducing vulnerability to disasters
DRR can be considered as the first line of defence whilst
building long-term adaptation strategies
Disaster and climate risk reduction use similar tools: e.g. risk
assessments, early warning, multi-sectoral approaches
Risk reduction is therefore a critical component of adaptation
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14. ASALs:
• Successive poor
rains/heavy rains-flash floods
• Return rate of droughts
Agriculture: •Increased temperatures
• Rainfall
unpredictability/failure
• Increased temperature
Flood-prone
areas:
•Heavy rainfall
•Increased
temperature
Coastal areas:
• Heavy
/unpredictable rainfall
• Increasing
temperatures
•Coastal floods
Urban areas:
• Heavy rainfall
events-localised
urban floods
•Urban heat
14 island effect
15. Oxfam GB Kenya Programme- ASAL
and Urban
Strategic Direction 1: Working with pastoral
and other marginalised communities in ASALs
to address effects of chronic poverty,
structural marginalisation and increasing
vulnerability
Strategic Direction 2: Working with/for urban
poor in informal settlements to address
emerging urban crisis (poverty &
vulnerability, poor governance, uncoordinated
humanitarian response, marginalisation)
Building upon DRR experience in ASALs as an
entry point to achieve long term Climate
Change Adaptation for vulnerable ASAL and
Urban communities
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16. Kenya Programme
National Policy- Climate Change, Peace
Building and Conflict Mitigation, Policy and
Advocacy Pillars
Strategic Direction 3: Skills and capacity
development of staff and partners
Governance (advocacy)
Sustainable livelihoods (development)
Disaster Risk Reduction (humanitarian)
A Right Based and One Programme Approach
Integrates climate change in development,
humanitarian, advocacy & campaigning
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17. Projects
Assessing CC Vulnerability and Adaptation in
Kenya’s ASALs and Urban areas (case studies)
Advocacy for Climate Proofing Kenya’s
Development Agenda (National Policy and Strategy
Review- (ASAL, Land, Livestock, Food & Nutrition,
Disaster Management and Peace Building & Conflict
Management)
Coordinating Kenyan Civil Society on Climate
Change (Kenya Climate Change Working Group)
Climate Change Campaigning (Climate hearings in
2009 and tribunals in 2010)
Access to Flood Risk Information through Early
Warning Systems in Nairobi
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18. Existing Opportunities for Oxfam & Partners
Humanitarian Assistance
– Responding to urgent and immediate
humanitarian crises caused by climatic disasters
to reduce suffering and loss of life , with best
DRR practice
Long term development planning
– New forms of climate-friendly development
(climate proofing development)
– Livelihood diversification
Advocacy and campaigning
– Advocating and campaigning for emission
reductions (40% below 1990 levels by 2020, 80-
95% by 2050) and transfer of international funds
towards DRR and CCA
– Adaptation finance-new and predictable (over
and above ODA in the scale of $100billion/year)
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19. Challenges
Chronic under development/investment and high
poverty levels
Over dependence on reactive rather than proactive
approaches
Weak institutional and governance structures
Lack/ weak policies
Uncoordinated efforts from different stakeholders
Weakness in mainstreaming/integrating CCA, DRR into
programmes
Weakness in climatic disaster risk research capacity
Lack of financial resources
Lack of awareness amongst communities
Difficulties in distinguishing between adaptation,
disaster risk reduction and development
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20. Recommendations
Investment and addressing marginalization & social
exclusion to address underlying causes of disasters
Promoting pro-active approaches through preparedness
e.g. early warning systems, flood & drought management)
Advocating for strong institutional and governance
structures
Linking policy and practice through implementation and project up
scaling
Coordinating efforts across different stakeholders
Mainstreaming CCA and DRR into development
Investing in climate focused research and disaster risk
analysis-Participatory capacity and vulnerability analysis
(PCVA), community based disaster risk/adaptation
Advocating for international financing and budgetary
allocation from national government
Community sensitization and education on risk reduction
Identifying commonalities between CCA, DRR and
contribution to national development agenda
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21. Conclusions
Efforts to adapt to the changing climate are
intricately linked to the broader challenges of
sustainable livelihoods, disaster risk reduction,
natural resource management
Domestication of international frameworks
(UNFCCC and HFA) must implemented at
national and local level
All stakeholders must participate in addressing
the challenge posed by climate change and
natural disasters
DRR provides excellent opportunities for building
community resilience and building adaptive
capacity to CC
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