2. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development
Kathmandu, Nepal
06 February 2013
Regional consultation on resilience
Christian Aid
Hari Krishna
hkrishna@icimod.org
Resilience and Disaster Risk
Management in Hindu-Kush
Himalaya Region:
Presented at the Christian Aid – Regional Consultation on Resilience – South Asia
06-08 Feb 2013, Kathmandu, Nepal

3. Extends over 3500 km from Afghanistan to Myanmar And
Home to 200 million People
An intergovernmental and independent organisation
with eight member states
The Hindu Kush Himalayan Region
A regional mountain
knowledge, learning
and enabling centre
devoted to
sustainable mountain
development
Information and
Knowledge are chief
Commodities of the
Centre
www.icimod.org
http://geoportal.icimod.org
www.icimod.org/drr
International Centre for Integrated
Mountain Development (ICIMOD)

4. HKH Context: Ten major river basins
of Asia

5. The Himalayas, hotspot for climate
extremes
The third pole on earth
- an area of extraordinary
beauty and a world heritage
site for biodiversity
An ecological buffer
between the North and
South Asia
Himalayan glaciers are sources
of freshwater reserves. They
provide headwaters for 10
major river systems in Asia – a
lifeline for almost one-third of
humanity

6. ICIMOD’s Commitment & Role in reducing disaster risk in
the HKH Region
• ICIMOD is committed itself to promote and apply new and high end
technologies for the dynamic assessment of water- and climate-related
hazards, to develop real-time regional information systems, to
strengthen community resilience and adaptation strategies, to assist and
inform policy making, and to provide a platform for regional cooperation
towards comprehensive disaster risk reduction.

7. Climatic hazards: Main Issues in
The HKH region:
 HKH region a source of ten large Asian river systems and
provides water, ecosystem services, and the basis for
livelihoods to a population of around 210.53 million in the
region.
 Greater risks of global warming in the mountains and threat to
mountain hydrological system.
 About 95% population of the total population in the HKH region
depends on agriculture and forest resources but the forest
cover is decreasing 0.36 km2 per year and the agricultural
production decreasing due climate change and several natural
disasters

8. Climatic hazards: Main
Issues in the HKH region
 Climate change and land use degradation accelerating the water-
induced disasters such as flash flood, river-line flood, erosion, wet
mass movement during monsoon period and drought in non-
monsoon period as drying up of natural water springs and
streams
 Faster retreat of glaciers in Himalayas than the world average.
 Reduction of snow and ice, which in turn leads to low water
storage capacity.
 Lives and livelihoods of millions of Himalayan inhabitants under
threat in addition to infrastructure, economic, health and social
impacts.
 Differential impacts on different social and gender groups
 Differential coping strategies between slow onset and rapid
events

9. Disaster vulnerability of HKH
countries
China: 6 of the world's top 10 deadliest natural disasters,. Floods alone killed over 07
Million in the last 100 years.
India: About 30 million people are affected by flood every year-mainly in Indo–
Gangetic–Brahmaputra plains. .
Bangladesh: Lies less than 10m above sea level and 80% of its land is flood plan. 1998
floods of Bangladesh affected more than 75% of country’s land mass.
Pakistan: The 2010 Pakistan floods affected approximately one-fifth of Pakistan's total land
area and about 20 million people.
Afghanistan: Afghanistan has been hit by 118 medium to large scale disaster events from
1980 – 2008.
Nepal: 6000 rivers and flow from the north towards the south with high velocity due to high
river gradient. Annual floods, land slides and drought cause recurrent losses. Nepal is
also at high risk of GLOF & Earth quakes.
Myanmar: Between 1910 and 2000, there were 12 major floods. Over 2 million people are
exposed to flood hazard in Myanmar every year.
Bhutan: Lies in one of the most seismically active region in the world. Also, out of 2,674
glacial lakes in Bhutan, 25 pose grave threat of glacial lake outburst flood
(ICIMOD/Department of Geology & Mines, Bhutan).
Prevention web/UNISDR:

10. Hazard Events are increasing
 The middle part of the HKH
region comprises of
Bangladesh, China, India
Nepal and Pakistan
experiencing very high
frequency of hazard
events.
 The region having average
76 hazard events each
year and highest found for
china (25) and India (18).
Afghanistan,

11. RESILIENCE
Earlier you called me vulnerable
Now you are saying I’m resilient
Earlier you were worried about hazard risks
around me
Now you are clapping over my coping
capacity
Earlier you came to help me prepare
Now you say that I must adapt to change
Are you giving up?, unlike me!
Or
You found a better way of helping me to deal
with increasing risks, over come
vulnerability and cope with Uncertainty!

12. Measuring RESILIENCE
 Capacity to resist hazard
impacts
 Accommodate, or adapt to
the effects of disasters
 Capacity to manage, or
maintain certain basic
functions and structures,
during disasters and their
aftermaths;
 Capacity to recover after
such events.

13. Gaps and Needs
 Need to reduce Scientific un-certaininty of data and Knowledge gap and
incomplete picture of risk.
 Need to create greater regional cooperation in strengthening systems and
governance resilience.
 Need for a stronger, united and common voices that represent mountain
communities in different parts of the world.
 Need to understand the interaction of access to and assurances from
commons vis-à-vis resources under private, open access and public control.
 Need a deeper analysis of portfolio adjustments over, space, time and sector
& promote community led adaptation
 Beyond resilience and coping: Are there risks that people were not
accustomed to dealing or those they had never before experienced- and how
are they reacting to such risks.
 Need for creating a synergy in Development, Disaster risk reduction and anti-
climate change activities.

14. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development
Kathmandu, Nepal
Community resilience and
Adaptation
&
Role of Policies and
Institutions:
Main Findings

15. The role of tree crops in local adaptations to climate
variability in the Himalayas:
Case studies in China, Nepal and Pakistan
 Monoculture systems in the study areas have proven particularly
vulnerable to both economic and climatic shocks and shifts, whereas
diversified production systems, including through the use of tree crops
provided some amount of protection from such impacts.
 Markets and government policy have greater impact than climate
change awareness on the diversification of agriculture using tree crops
in the study areas, which played a key of role in enhancing the adaptive
capacity of the studied communities.
 Policy environments and institutions are not yet responsive to the pace
of change or new needs for highly adaptive and resilient systems
experienced by agricultural communities.
 Key Message: Capture knowledge of farmers, local extension workers
and scientists on response of tree crops to climate change and
vulnerability and develop tools for screening of tree crops and agro-
forestry systems for their potential to enhance climate resilience.

16. Governance of flood mitigation infrastructure:
A case study in the Brahmaputra Basin in Assam,
India
 Local communities in Assam developed coping capacities to floods
based on their traditional knowledge and support networks.
 Embankments moderate floods, but can also exacerbate them
depending on whether or not these structures are well managed. In the
study area (Assam), embankments found to be one of the most
important strategies for protecting people from floods under the present
flood management regime.
 Embankments influence peoples adaptive capacities to cope and
adapt to floods, depending on (i) the extent and impact of flooding, (ii)
the extent of peoples dependence on these structures for protection,
(iii) the degree of protection these structures provide.
 Key Message: Institutional and policy reforms are urgently needed to
make the flood governance system more accountable and transparent,
more flexible and responsive to the needs of the vulnerable
communities.

17. Role of Local Governance in Strengthening
Adaptive Capacity to Water Stress:
Cases in Pakistan
 From the research it emerged that traditional water
distribution and management practices were the most
pervasive and effective strategy for efficient use of limited
water resources and reducing vulnerability to climate
extremes
 Local level institutions¸ through effective water resource
management¸ have been important driving force for
enhancing local adaptive capacities to water stress.
 Key Message: Government organizations have well defined
mechanisms, both internal and external, for ensuring
accountability and transparency at all level of
implementation and management. Proper enforcing of these
rules and regulations and reducing rampant malpractices
will increase the effectiveness of development interventions.

18. Assessing the potential of labour migration as an
adaptation strategy to the rapid onset water hazards
in the Hindu-Kush Himalayas
 Migration for work is one of the resilience strategy for livelihood
adopted by households to respond to the impacts of floods,
droughts, and other water hazards.
 The influence of water hazards is one of the factors that
influence the decision to migrate for work.
 Labour migration is a positive response to water hazards for
many, though not all, of the households studied.
 In spite of relatively low volume, remittances have improved the
quality of life of the recipient households and the household’s
ability to respond to water hazards.
 Key Message: Need for Strengthening formal and informal
means of social protection for migrants and those left behind &
Fostering vocational skills in the origin communities

19. Messages
• Livelihood diversification emerges as a central
adaptation strategy but support through
institutions and policy is needed for strengthening
this resilience.
• Social networks and local institutions play a vital
role in enhancing resilience
• National institutions and policies strongly affect
peoples ability to adapt at the local level, but the
national level policy is rarely informed by
adaptation concerns and priorities.
• Eco system contribution to people and systems
resilience need adequately recognized and the
linkage should be strengtened.
• The provision of basic services is fundamental to
people’s ability to adapt. The adaptation and
development policy frameworks at various levels
are not identical but are intertwined.
Message

20.  People’s response and success of their efforts
are often influenced by the policy context and
quality of governance.
 Local governance structures may be more
effective at managing water variability, but may
be at odds with national structures for water
management.
 Long-term recovery and the ongoing challenge
of living with water hazard or stress are major
gaps in disaster management policy frameworks
(India).
Messages

21. Resilience and adaptation
Knowledge Summary
Need to develop Greater understanding on Portfolio of adjustments that
feed resilience and adaptation.
Intra Household: Asset disposal, migration, reduction in consumption, reallocation of
resources and dependency on external humanitarian assistance.
Inter-Household: Labor, credit, land related bi-lateral contracts, exchange of favors and
their impacts.
Community: Reliance on CPRs, group ploughing, sowing, group trading, group
resources of food, fuel wood and other contingencies & community collectives,.
Public Interventions: drought or flood relief from public institutions, seed supply, post
Disaster infrastructure Development, community capacity building .
Cultural: Drawing strategies and options form myths, folklore, sanctions on private profits
during stress periods, use of traditional systems and calendars to anticipate and cope with
risks, etc.

22. From vulnerability to resilience and risk
reduction-GFDRR:
 Disaster risk reduction is the first line of
defense in adapting to climate change.
 Need to build resilience now for better
adaptation to a changing climate.
 Strengthens capacities,
 Develop appropriate tools and methodologies
to address DRR in changing climate
 Augment innovation and knowledge sharing,
 Ensure additional investment for disaster risk
reduction.

23. From vulnerability to resilience and risk
reduction: ICIMOD approach
Community Level: Working on Disaster Risk Reduction with direct / indirect support to highly vulnerable
up-stream & down stream communities. These community level initiatives provide examples of good
practice in order to build evidence to influence appropriate Development and Disaster Management
Policies at the international, national, and local levels and support their implementation.
National & Regional Level Stakeholders: Our ultimate goal is to influence government policies,
programs and practices of HKH nations so that they are consistent with our goals for reducing
vulnerability and increasing resilience of mountain communities. We also seek to influence other
development actors’ activities at the national level. We understand that mobilizing and redirecting the
resources managed by national and local governments and development actors will be far more
effective when these efforts draw strength from our ground experience through our three strategic
program areas.
International Stakeholders: International stakeholders are seen as powerful influencers for national level
policies and programs. HFA & MDGs in particular guide DRR & Development policies in the
countries. Our DRR programs not only alien with HFA & MDGs, we are also be part of regional and
international learning forums on implementation of these guidelines. In addition we work with and
influence international donors, donor countries and various UN entities to increase their investment
and use their clout to influence HKH national governments government’s for policy commitments for
mountain hazard risk reduction.

24. ICIMOD
 Regional, facilitator and broker with a mountain
perspective
 Contributing to country-based knowledge
becoming regionally accessible
 Promoting the extension from local to
transboundary approaches
 Customising international knowledge
 Capacity development, common methodologies,
regionally accessible data, monitoring, quality
control

25. Thank you
Hari Krishna, ICIMOD