A Framework for Regional Cooperation on Integration of Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation in South Asia

Abstract

Climate change has created newer grounds for disaster vulnerability in South Asia. Two third of the natural disasters the region experiences are having climate origins. In the recent times, their intensity, frequency and unpredictability are on the rise. The political leadership of the region has been sensitive to this emerging challenge. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) as a regional platform has made efforts to address the disaster vulnerability emanating from climate change collectively. The 29th Session of SAARC Council of Ministers, the SAARC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change on July 3,2008 at Dhaka signals a new beginning by adopting the SAARC Action Plan on Climate Change. SAARC Disaster Management Centre (SDMC), the product of a collective vision to harness regional cooperation and enhance the resilience of vulnerable South Asia to the natural disasters, has placed priorities on building regional cooperative mechanism addressing Climate Change Risks, Impacts and Adaptation and also developing a conceptual framework integrating Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) strategies into Climate Change Adaptation (CCA). There are practices in the region which bring in convergence between DRR and CCA strategies, while there are also areas identified, especially on institutional and programmatic fronts, responsible for the existing divergence. Harnessing the advances in Science & Technology and the recent progress made in Early Warning Systems as well as networking of the knowledge institutions enable integrating the methods, tools & techniques of DRR with the multi-sectoral dimensions of CCA in the operational arena. Proof-of-the-concept could be seen if climate related disaster risk 'hotspots' are targeted for designing risk reduction strategies and integrating climate, weather & EWS information in decision makings for the causes and purposes common to both DRR & CCA. Following the participatory approach wherein the concerns and voices of all SAARC member countries find expressions, SDMC is evolving a road map addressing the growing vulnerability of region due to climate change to support the SAARC Member States.