Last week’s discussion on Disaster Risk Reduction showed us that in very few cities across our regions are there specific formal DRR strategies in place. In many cases, the strategies that are in place on paper are arguably achieving relatively little in practice. Another overwhelming response was that it is in emergency response that strategies and actions are effective, rather than prevention. As we saw in the introductory material, response is just one aspect of DRR, to actually reduce disaster risk would entail reducing vulnerability to extreme events, which would necessarily involve all stakeholders in a location specific manner. One of the main barriers or challenges identified was the lack of long-term planning, commitment and executive capacity of city officials. Many participants spoke about the need for DRR to be integrated with climate change adaptation (especially when talking about climate related disasters – as we are here). Participants from Ghana shared with us that they already have an Action Plan on Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation (2011 -2015).
Cities with formal DRR strategies:
Participants from South Africa, Stefan Raubenheimer and Riaz Jogiat, shared with us that their cities do have formal DRR strategies. Riaz Jogiat felt that in his city the strategy was ineffective, due to flawed risk identification among other reasons, which we will explore shortly. However, the city of Cape Town is said to have taken a ‘proactive and integrated approach’ to DRR, the link below gives more details of the strategy. Manas Dwivedi from India, shared with us that Shimla also has a formal DRR strategy. It was very interesting to see that participants from Ghana disagreed about the existence of formal city level DRR strategies, with answers ranging from a definitive no, to the fact that some aspects of DRR are being dealt with, to the idea that every city in Ghana has a formal DRR strategy. One reason for this may be that communication on this issue is not effective, or perhaps that plans exist on paper but that actions to genuinely reduce disaster risk are not particularly evident. It would be interesting to see some responses from our Ghanaian participants about the reality of DRR in cities.
Where city strategies are extensions of national strategies:
Participants from Bangladesh explained to us that national plans empower local city corporations, and a range of national acts and programmes, plus the specific Ministry for Disaster, coordinate disaster risk reduction actions. Ho Chi Minh City, Vitenam, has a city plan which is based on the national plan.
Countries with national strategies that should trickle down to cities, but as of yet do not do so effectively:
From the various responses from participants it seems that Ghana, India and Nigeria could well fit into this category. Responses showed that these countries have many national departments and acts, but few concrete city level disaster risk reduction achievements. Participants from these countries spoke of ad-hoc actions, namely response to disasters.
From the discussion we could see that most of our countries do have national DRR strategies (Uruguay Zambia, and Zimbabwe are currently working on theirs). It seems that there is a very strong relationship between the national strategy and any kind of action at the city level, especially where city-level strategies are lacking. As we have seen the challenges posed by climate change affect different localities in very specific ways, and as such to really reduce disaster risk (rather than responding to disasters as they occur) local plans and strategies are arguably a necessity. For that reason it was interesting to see that many participants felt that national government institutions were the main actors in city level DRR, and that local actors such as the community and NGOs have not been having more of an impact on local DRR .
The challenges to effectively reduce disaster risk in cities across our nations were very similar. Many participants converged on the view that the following were the main challenges:
- Lack of long-term planning
- Lack of coordination between actors
- Lack of inclusion of local populations in creation of DRR strategies
- Lack of local capacity
- Lack of governance
- Lack of awareness
- Lack of political commitment
- Lack of funding
- Climate change is seen as a rural issue
- Too strong of a focus on relief, rather than prevention
You will notice that these challenges are the same as those that we witnessed in the Module 1 discussions.
As always we would like to invite you to comment upon this summary, or use this space to add any additional information that you did not have a chance to share during the course of the discussion.
All the best,
Charlotte and the ELLA Team
Cities with formal DRR strategies:
Participants from South Africa, Stefan Raubenheimer and Riaz Jogiat, shared with us that their cities do have formal DRR strategies. Riaz Jogiat felt that in his city the strategy was ineffective, due to flawed risk identification among other reasons, which we will explore shortly. However, the city of Cape Town is said to have taken a ‘proactive and integrated approach’ to DRR, the link below gives more details of the strategy. Manas Dwivedi from India, shared with us that Shimla also has a formal DRR strategy. It was very interesting to see that participants from Ghana disagreed about the existence of formal city level DRR strategies, with answers ranging from a definitive no, to the fact that some aspects of DRR are being dealt with, to the idea that every city in Ghana has a formal DRR strategy. One reason for this may be that communication on this issue is not effective, or perhaps that plans exist on paper but that actions to genuinely reduce disaster risk are not particularly evident. It would be interesting to see some responses from our Ghanaian participants about the reality of DRR in cities.
Where city strategies are extensions of national strategies:
Participants from Bangladesh explained to us that national plans empower local city corporations, and a range of national acts and programmes, plus the specific Ministry for Disaster, coordinate disaster risk reduction actions. Ho Chi Minh City, Vitenam, has a city plan which is based on the national plan.
Countries with national strategies that should trickle down to cities, but as of yet do not do so effectively:
From the various responses from participants it seems that Ghana, India and Nigeria could well fit into this category. Responses showed that these countries have many national departments and acts, but few concrete city level disaster risk reduction achievements. Participants from these countries spoke of ad-hoc actions, namely response to disasters.
From the discussion we could see that most of our countries do have national DRR strategies (Uruguay Zambia, and Zimbabwe are currently working on theirs). It seems that there is a very strong relationship between the national strategy and any kind of action at the city level, especially where city-level strategies are lacking. As we have seen the challenges posed by climate change affect different localities in very specific ways, and as such to really reduce disaster risk (rather than responding to disasters as they occur) local plans and strategies are arguably a necessity. For that reason it was interesting to see that many participants felt that national government institutions were the main actors in city level DRR, and that local actors such as the community and NGOs have not been having more of an impact on local DRR .
The challenges to effectively reduce disaster risk in cities across our nations were very similar. Many participants converged on the view that the following were the main challenges:
- Lack of long-term planning
- Lack of coordination between actors
- Lack of inclusion of local populations in creation of DRR strategies
- Lack of local capacity
- Lack of governance
- Lack of awareness
- Lack of political commitment
- Lack of funding
- Climate change is seen as a rural issue
- Too strong of a focus on relief, rather than prevention
You will notice that these challenges are the same as those that we witnessed in the Module 1 discussions.
As always we would like to invite you to comment upon this summary, or use this space to add any additional information that you did not have a chance to share during the course of the discussion.
All the best,
Charlotte and the ELLA Team
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