Background
Over the past decade, more than 700,000 people lost their lives, over 1.4 million were injured, and approximately 23 million were made homeless as a result of disasters (Sendai Framework 2015-30). The total economic loss over this period was more than USD1.3 trillion. Climate change is projected to further magnify the frequency and intensity of weather-related hazards, which already account for the majority of annual losses from disasters (IPCC, 2012).
Risks from climate change and other hazards can threaten development objectives and achievements; and in turn, vulnerability to these risks is affected by development choices (OECD, 2009). Building resilience to risks and addressing vulnerability is a unifying goal for CCA, DRR and poverty reduction practitioners. The adoption of resilience as a central concept of international development policy and practice has therefore emerged from concerns over the protection of development gains (Wilkinson et al., 2014) and provides support for the concept of mainstreaming.
Ongoing programmes have resulted in the development of practical tools and guidelines to support mainstreaming, but these have usually focused on either DRR or CCA and not both. These include two guides developed by UNEP-UNDP as part of the Poverty-Environment Initiative: the “Mainstreaming Environment and Climate for Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development Handbook” (2015); and the “Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation into Development Planning: A Guide for Practitioners” (2011). Furthermore, the "Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction into Development at the National Level: A Practical Framework” (draft, UNDP 2010) was developed as part of UNDP’s Global Mainstreaming Initiative (GMI).
These have been valuable for providing strategies to separately mainstream either DRR or CCA; and have been used to inform the work of UNDP in several countries, as well as multi-partner initiatives, such as the Mainstreaming Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction into Development Initiative (MADRiD). However, these need to be updated, to provide practical guidance and tools on both DRR and CCA issues to ensure coherence. There is growing recognition that joint approaches to disaster risk reduction (DRR), climate change adaptation (CCA) and sustainable development are essential. For example, in UNDP’s Strategic Plan (2014-17), emphasis is placed on “pursuing mutually supportive rather than stand-alone goals.”
Increasingly, there are requests from UNDP practitioners and their counterparts in government to pursue DRR and CCA in an integrated manner and develop a mainstreaming framework and tools that converge these two areas of work. There are a number of programmes that are dedicated to providing integrated approaches to CCA and DRR mainstreaming including UNDP’s “Pacific Risk Resilience Programme (PRRP)” and UNDP’s “Integrated Climate Risk Management Programme (ICRMP). It is important to draw upon these and other recent experiences to harmonise risk reduction and adaptation to effect a holistic and positive impact on poverty reduction and development.
An integrated framework will also provide a tool for national and subnational governments to translate commitment to separate global agendas into joint action at country level, including the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-30, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement. As such it will need to link to ongoing programmes such as the UNDP’s 5-10-50 Partnership Framework, which will support countries and communities deliver risk-informed development.
A framework that brings these areas of work together will need to be a practical tool that is grounded in experience; applicable to a range of contexts and levels; and user friendly. We therefore welcome your input and feedback on this.
Participate in the e-Discussions
This e-Discussion will be divided into three phases providing an opportunity for participants to:
- share experiences of existing mainstreaming resources and expectations of an integrated DRR-CCA framework;
- provide comments on a proposed outline for the integrated framework (drafted based on your feedback from Phase 1) and case studies illustrating its applicability;
- share feedback on a draft framework.