Indegenious practices to protect crop against drought

Climate Change Community

Disaster Management
Community

Solution Exchange for the Climate Change
Community
Solution Exchange for the Disaster Management
Community
Consolidated Reply
Query: Translating Traditional DRR & CCA Knowledge into
Action - Referrals; Advice
Compiled by Ramesh Jalan and G Padmanabhan, Resource Persons and Jai Kumar
Gaurav and Nupur Arora, Research Associates
Issue Date: 06 January 2012

From Vijayalakshmi Viswanathan, Safer World Communications, New
Delhi
Posted 21 November 2011
…As streams dry up earlier each summer, a small remote community in Ladakh is building
artificial glaciers to compensate. The process was ignited by one man.

….It is said that days before the Chamoli earthquake, new springs sprouted from the mountain
and exiting ones began smelling of sulphur. An early warning sign?

To watch a short video highlighting some of these stories click here (English). To
view the video in hindi click here.

We have all heard such stories. In fact, environment friendly and safety enhancing techniques
abound across all geographies and spheres of life. Much of this abundant traditional wisdom and
local innovation can be revisited, helping discover solutions that can reduce disaster risk and
address climate issues today. Yet, since many of these stories are not scientifically validated, they
often remain hidden or are not taken seriously. There is a need to translate this existing rich and
in-depth traditional knowledge into handy and quick reference material using creative
communication techniques and to disseminate this information to vulnerable communities,

grassroots disaster managers, local administrators, NGOs in disaster-prone areas and other
information seekers.

One way of doing this is to build up a digital repository of such stories from across geo-climatic
zones focusing on the thematic areas of water, shelter, livelihoods and early warning. These
leads can subsequently be subjected to a stringent review process and can eventually form the
basis for a comprehensive e-learning platform aimed at policy decision makers and field
practitioners.

Safer World Communications (www.saferworld.in) and the Solution Exchange Disaster
Management and Climate Change Communities are interested in taking this forward based on the
interest of relevant stakeholders. In order to build upon the idea and share experiences, we are
organizing a stakeholder consultation in Uttarakhand in December. The consultation aims to bring
together different organizations (local and national) that work on issues of DRR and CCA and are
using different forms of media to share traditional evidence-based knowledge.

In view of this we request the members of the Disaster Management and Climate Change
Communities of Practice to kindly:
• Advice on how best traditional knowledge can be captured using innovative
communication tools and share any experiences from your organizations;
• Share references of Development Practitioners/ Organizations who could be
invited to participate in the Workshop or be made a part of this learning initiative
at some point.

Looking forward to hearing your insights!

Responses were received, with thanks, from
1. Sunder Subramanian, Independent International and Infrastructure
Consultant/Advisor, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India (Response 1, Response 2)
2. P. C. Joshi, Society for Indian Medical Anthropology, Department of
Anthropology, Delhi University, Delhi
3. Anshuman Das, Development Research Communication and Services Centre,
Kolkota, West Bengal, India
4. Smriti Shukla, GoI-UNDP Disaster Risk Reduction Programme, Lucknow, Uttar
Pradesh, India
5. Anuj Tiwari, Global Forum for Disaster Reduction (GFDR), New Delhi
6. Archana Chatterjee, WWF-India, New Delhi
7. Prashant Khattri, Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University, Wardha,
8. Maharashtra, India
9. Venu Arora, Ideosync Media Combine, Faridabad, Haryana, India
10. Amit Choubey, Sri Someswar Nath Mahadev Trust, Champaran, Bihar, India
11. Sunil D Santha, School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai,
Maharashtra, India
12. Gyaneshwar Singh, Independent Consultant, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
13. K. Karthik Pyramanic Shyam Sundar, KISEA, Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu, India
14. Man B.Thapa, UNDP, Kabul, Afghanistan
15. Shalini Jain, SEEDS, New Delhi
16. Annie George, BEDROCK, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu, India
17. Abha Mishra, United Nations Development Programme, New Delhi (Response 1,
Response 2)
18. Dipankar Dasgupta, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

19. K N Vajpai, Climate Himalaya, Uttarakhand, India
20. V G Reddy, Rural Reconstruction and Development Society (RRDS), Gudur, Nellore
District, Andhra Pradesh, India
21. H.S.Sharma, Sobha Sariya Engineering College, Sikar, Rajasthan, India*
22. Satheesh KK Sridharan, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India*
23. Anthony Chettri, Caritas India, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, India*
24. Jyotiraj Patra, Concern Worldwide India, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India*

*Offline Contribution

Further contributions are welcome!

Summary of Responses
Comparative Experiences
Related Resources
Responses in Full

Summary of Responses
• Traditional knowledge developed through thousands of years of experience and intimate
contact with the environment is a precious resource that could contribute substantially to
Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) if captured properly
and documented comprehensively.

• The use of traditional early warning knowledge by ‘primitive tribes’ like the Onge and
Jarawas of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands to escape the devastation of the Tsunami
was highlighted.

• Careful observation of the behavior of animals, appearance and color of the sky have
been used as early warning of natural disasters and ancient religious texts have quoted
several approaches to tackle the challenges of natural disasters.

• The major challenge in replicating traditional knowledge and practices is lack of
documentation therefore translating traditional knowledge into local languages will lead
to effective implementation of DRR and CCA programmes.

• A three stage process involving development of a network of informants, establishment
of a vetting process and documentation of authentic information needs to be evolved.

• The documentation could be in the form of stand-alone photo-essays, reading materials,
multimedia including audio, videos etc. and they need to be categorized for effective
electronic storage and recovery.

• Researchers at Tata Institute of Social Sciences are involved in a research project that
attempts to capture local knowledge systems related to Early Warning Systems (EWS)
with respect to coastal hazards in Kerala through in-depth interviews and Focus Group
Discussions (FGDs).

• The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) publication
“Indigenous Knowledge for DRR” (2008) is an elaborate document highlighting
Indigenous Traditional Knowledge.

• The Development Research Communication and Services Centre in West Bengal, has
captured Indigenous Traditional Knowledge in agriculture and the livelihood sector
including ‘Grain Bank’, ‘Seed Bank’, integrated farming, land shaping in water logged
areas, use of uncultivated food and mixed cropping.

• Terralingua through a project called Vitality Index of Traditional Environmental
Knowledge (VITEK) that includes a methodology for collecting and analyzing data leading
to the creation of a locally-appropriate, globally-applicable indicator focused on trends of
retention or loss of TEK over time is compiling traditional knowledge.

• WWF India has used the “Climate Witness” approach to capture traditional knowledge
and experiences from Ladakh and Sunderbans in form of publications. A film in local
language Ladakhi (as well as English) titled 'Living with Change' has also been prepared.

• Studies by researchers at Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology, Sikkim highlight the
traditional knowledge of Lepcha community that could help in DRR and CCA. For
example, according to a folktale Utis trees grow in landslide prone areas, techniques to
convert toxic plants products to edible products could help survival during disasters.

• Traditional knowledge related to plant and animal varieties that can cope with adverse
environmental conditions, rain water harvesting structures, ‘quanats’ or underground
dykes and tunnels for transfer of sub-surface water by gravity to the surface have been
highlighted as potential CCA measures in the Bundelkhand region and also in Rajasthan
by researchers at National Institute of Disaster Management, New Delhi.

• A study supported by International Labour Organization (ILO) in Durgapur, West Bengal
and Mayurbhanj, Orissa found that communities planted short duration crops like minor
millets, stored dry fish and collected seeds from forests to cope with droughts.

• Transfer of knowledge could be facilitated between communities directly. For example
communities living in the India-Bangladesh border region of Nadia & Murshidabad
districts in West Bengal have adopted the housing designs & tube well raising techniques
used by communities living in flood-prone areas of Bangladesh.

• A tribal community living in a flood prone area, in Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu had constituted
small groups of youth to monitor the level of the rising water in the river with notches on
a stick. Mechanism of tying ropes across the river to cross them, collection of money per
month per family for providing support during floods was highlighted.

• During 1991 earthquake in Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand, families living in traditional houses
mostly survived. Therefore it is important to capture traditional construction knowledge
and integrate them with the present modern practices.

• The various spheres of local knowledge with respect to monsoon prediction in India have
been captured successfully in a paper titled “A Societal Knowledge Management System:
Harnessing Indigenous Wisdom to Build Sustainable Predictors for Adaptation to Climate
Change”

• The Misings community of the Brahmaputra River Basin builds raised houses and earthen
mounds to protect themselves during severe floods. Community members become
fishermen during flood seasons and become farmers during the Rabi season as a climate
change adaptation strategy.

• The national policy on disaster management of the Government of India has devoted a
separate section on knowledge management and highlights the importance of indigenous
traditional knowledge.

• Participatory communication that aims to facilitate the expression of people's needs and
priorities through effective communication processes was highlighted to capture the
traditional knowledge of communities by involving all major stakeholders. It is also
imperative to publicize regular messages through print and electronic media and utilize
network of research institutions, universities, colleges etc. in order to capture the
traditional knowledge for effective implementation of DRR and CCA programmes.

Comparative Experiences
Andaman and Nicobar

Traditional knowledge among Onge Tribes (from H.S. Sharma, Sobha Sariya Engineering
College, Sikar, Rajasthan, India)
During the 2004 Tsunami which affected many countries and communities, not a single person of
the ONGE tribe from Andaman and Nicobar was killed. They survived with the traditional
knowledge that when the sea is extraordinarily quiet, run away, passed on to them by their
elders.

Andhra Pradesh and Orissa

Traditional Practices to protect crops against drought (from Ranjan Praharaj, Focus
Humanitarian Assistance India, Gujarat- contribution from a previous discussion)
Indigenous communities here practice shifting cultivation which provides enough space for
conservation. They cut the forest, burn the residue and clean the shifting cultivation site. Then
they collect and keep the residues and loose boulders of the top soil layer across the slope
following the contour lines. This is a unique practice of conservation of soil and water, which also
helps in resisting droughts.

Gujarat

Referring to Calendar months and constellations (from Anshuman Das, Development
Research Communication and Services Centre, Kolkota, West Bengal, India)
Farmers in Saurashtra region plan their farming activities by referring to the traditional calendars
and almanacs.

Kerela

Characteristics of rain (from Sunil D Santha, School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social
Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India)
Farmers in Kerala believe that heavy rains will follow a very hot summer month.

Orissa

Traditional coping mechanisms of tribals, Bhubaneswar (from Rudra Prasanna Rath,
State Documentation and Media Consultant, National Rural Health Mission, Orissa- contribution
from a previous discussion)
In Orissa tribes like Munda, Kondha, Saura, Kolha have their own way of preserving nature and
coping against distress. They follow proper cycle for shifting cultivation providing enough space
for conservation and consider forests sacred and therefore do not destroy the environment. This
has helped them conserving the environment they live in with practices which are ancient.

Using bio-indicators for disaster preparedness and warning (from Pradeep Mohapatra,
UDYAMA, Bhubaneswar- contribution from a previous discussion)
In Orissa, since ancient times communities have been using bio-indicators situated at elevated
areas to identify safe flood shelters; black ants with eggs climbing up, symbolizes heavy rains
and running cows indicates severity during village fires etc. These have over the years been
culturally accepted and tested for successful results.

Uttar Pradesh

Indigenous agriculture interventions from flood affected area (from Gyaneshwar Singh,
Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group, India- contribution from a previous discussion)
GEAG with 20 local partners collected more than 100 indigenous agricultural interventions from
the flood prone area. These include diverse agricultural issues which helped in improving
livelihood and food security of the community. Also more than 364 indigenous technical
knowledge practices on biocides, bio-manure, etc. have been collected and documented. Their
application has given many benefits to the farming community epecially to small and marginal
farmers.

Tamil Nadu

Traditional practices for monitoring river water, Cudallore (from Annie George, BEDROC,
Nagapattinam)
A tribal community living in a flood prone area involved youth to monitor river water levels and
inform the community in case of a rise. They also had other systems like tying ropes across the
river to hold while crossing the flooded river and collecting money per month per family to meet
their needs during the floods. With these mechanisms in place they have managed to
successfully face frequent floods.

Observing the wind movement, Location if applicable (from Anshuman Das, Development
Research Communication and Services Centre, Kolkota, West Bengal, India)
Farmers in Tamil Nadu observe that the Northeast wind brings rain and the northwest wind wipes
out the rain. They also expect a good rain in October- November, if there is more wind during
July-August.

From Anshuman Das, Development Research Communication and Services Centre, Kolkota, West
Bengal, India

West Bengal

Grain Banks
Bengal has a tradition of community grain reserve practices so that at the time of scarcity and
disaster, grains can be borrowed at a very low rate of interest, which is returned back to the
grain bank itself. This can provide support during sudden attack of disaster. In the last ten years,

175 such grain banks have been created with 3000 households in south Bengal. Most of the
banks have enough grain reserves to last them for 60 days.

Seed Bank
Getting seeds is a big problem if crop is lost due to disasters. Farmers therefore are encouraged
to document the old crops which are suitable to local agro climate and keep stock of native
variety seeds. Seeds are shared during stress and post disaster. There are at least 13 saline
tolerant paddy variety identified, which was on the verge of becoming extinct.

Integrated farming
Farmers in Bengal are used to cultivate at least 5-6 types of crops, 10-12 types of vegetables,
fruit and fuel trees, medicinal plants including 2-3 types of livestock - all coupled together as an
integrated farming system. This decreases external dependency of synthetic chemicals by
utilizing garbage and non-human excreta to produce biogas and other organic inputs. Multi-
layered mixed cropping is done to make the system self-equipped and more resilient.

Land shaping in water logging areas
In Sundarbans, the low lands remain waterlogged for at least 6 – 7 months in a year in absence
of any escape route for the accumulated rain/flashflood water. In order to address this problem,
the farmers change the shape of the land so that a pond/canal/trench is excavated in a portion
of the plot, where the water is drained and the excavated soil is used to raise a section to make
it suitable for growing vegetables throughout the year.

Mixed cropping
Especially in dry-lands, mixed cropping with minor millets, pulses etc. are very valuable to
combat slow onset disasters like drought.

West Bengal and Orissa

Saving fish cultivation from Floods (from Ranjan Praharaj, Focus Humanitarian Assistance
India, Gujarat- contribution from a previous discussion)
To save fish from floods, farmers in the coastal regions put bamboo pegs in the fish pond before
the flood and just before the pond is submerged with flood water they hang fried fenugreek on
these pegs at different places in a pond putting it in thin cotton cloths. As per the farmers, if the
fried fenugreek is hanged inside the pond then the fishes do not leave the pond. This
considerably reduced the risk of washing away of the fishes in flood water.

From Sunil D Santha, School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai,
Maharashtra, India

Multiple

Observing Atmospheric patterns
Farmers anticipate heavy rains within a couple of hours if their sky attains a dark color, - as dark
as crow’s egg. Conversely, they predict drought conditions, if the sky acquires a faint yellow
color.

Observing characteristics of celestial bodies
Rural populations in India observe that the presence of rings or halo around the sun or moon
indicates imminent rain.

Using Bio-indicators
The good foliage of Mahuda (Madhuca Latifolia) tree indicates good monsoons.

Festivals and rituals
Local communities associate the commencement or termination of monsoons with certain
festivals and rituals respectively. Local communities in North India, predict the occurrence of rain
by observing the wind direction during Holi.

Flood resistant paddy seeds (from Ranjan Praharaj, Focus Humanitarian Assistance India,
Gujarat- contribution from a previous discussion)
To protect crops from floods, farmers plant flood resistant paddy seed using indigenous
agriculture practices. They plant the seeds in late summer and in early monsoon without any
chemical fertilizers. It grows well and before the flood season its roots are deeply embedded in
the earth and consequently the plant becomes strong. Such plants grow so well that during
harvesting the plants are cut into two pieces; one is used for fodder and the other part for annual
renovation of thatched houses.

International

Indonesia

Animal singing as tsunami warning, Mentawai Islands (from Asep Moh Muhsin, TAGANA,
Cianjur, Indonesia- contribution from a previous discussion)
In the island singing of the animal bilou is believed to work as a premonition of disaster. This
phenomenon is used as an early warning sign for tsunami waves. The local community is already
aware of this indigenous knowledge for early warning systems and therefore bilou is protected by
the Government of Indonesia and the world community. This has significantly helped the tsunami
vulnerable island community to take appropriate action on the tsunami warning.

Traditional practices to manage Drought, Kidul Mountain (from N M. Fahrul Effendi,
Indonesian Red Cross, Yogyakarta- contribution from a previous discussion)
The community in Kidul Mountain has for a very long time become familiarized to live in drought
conditions. They have their own way to adapt with the natural environment in order to meet the
needs of their daily necessity and their agricultural land. The community works together to
maintain their environment. They have also developed custom regulations for the community in
order to maintain and manage their existing water resources.

Related Resources
Recommended Documentation

Glimpses of Series of Participatory Exercises in Coastal area of Sunderbans, West Bengal,
to Understand the Stand/Response of the community to the Climate Crisis (from Anshuman
Das, Development Research Communication and Services Centre, Kolkota, West
Available at ftp://ftp.solutionexchange.net.in/public/drm/cr/res21111101.doc (Doc, 134 KB)
Highlights communities’ understanding and perception of vulnerability, especially due to climatic
changes and their response to the unsustainable development practices

Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the resilience of nations and
communities to disasters (HFA) (from Smriti Shukla, GoI-UNDP Disaster Risk Reduction
Programme, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India)
Report; by United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction; Geneva; January 2005;
Available at http://www.unisdr.org/eng/hfa/hfa.htm (PDF, 405 KB)

The World Conference on Disaster Reduction held in January 2005 in Japan, adopted HFA with
the aim of building the resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters.

A Societal Knowledge Management System: Harnessing Indigenous Wisdom to Build
Sustainable Predictors for Adaptation to Climate Change (from Sunil D Santha, School of
Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India)
Paper; by Mr. Sunil D Santha; Bardo Fraunholz and Chandana Unnithan, published in International
Journal of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses;
Available at
http://tiss.academia.edu/SunilSantha/Papers/771163/A_societal_knowledge_management_system_ha
rnessing_indigenous_wisdom_to_build_sustainable_predictors_for_adaptation_to_climate_change
Highlights possibility of capturing the various spheres of local knowledge with respect to
monsoon prediction.

From Abha Mishra, United Nations Development Programme, New Delhi

Coping Strategies and Early Warning Systems of Tribal People in India in the face of
Natural Disasters
Case Study; by ILO; New Delhi; English version available at:
www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/drm/cr/res08040901.pdf (PDF, 112 KB)
Identifies the needs of tribal community in dealing with natural disasters, specifically on
employment and protection of the most vulnerable part of the society

Indigenous Knowledge for Disaster Risk Reduction: Good Practices and Lessons Learned
from Experiences in the Asia-Pacific
Publication; UN ISDR Asia and Pacific; Bangkok; July 2008; English version available at
http://www.unisdr.org/eng/about_isdr/isdr-publications/19-Indigenous_Knowledge-
DRR/Indigenous_Knowledge-DRR.pdf (PDF, 2.96 MB)
Captures some existing examples of indigenous practices for several types of disasters and
lessons learned in the community in the Asia-Pacific region

Traditional Knowledge on Disaster Management- A preliminary study of the Lepcha
community of Sikkim, India
Study; by Vanya Jha and Ajeya Jha, Sikkim Manipar Institute of Technology, 2010
Available at ftp://ftp.solutionexchange.net.in/public/drm/cr/res06111102.pdf (PDF, 116 KB)
The paper explores the traditional knowledge on disaster management of the Lepcha community
of Sikkim

Traditional Intellect in Disaster Risk Mitigation: Indian Outlook- Rajasthan and
Bundelkhand Icons
Paper; by Anik K Gupta and Anjali Singh; National Institute of Disaster Management, New Delhi.
Available at ftp://ftp.solutionexchange.net.in/public/drm/cr/res06111103.pdf (PDF, 145 KB)
Reviews concepts and associated ecological hypothesis, traditional knowledge framework for
disaster management in Indian context.

Draft Report: Case Study on Indigenous Knowledge for Disaster Risk Reduction in South
Asia (from Prashant Khattri, Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, New Delhi and P. C.
Joshi, Department of Anthropology Delhi University, Delhi- contribution from a previous discussion)
Report; SDMC-ADRC; English version available at http://saarc-sdmc.nic.in/ind_p.asp
Draws out key findings of some case studies on indigenous knowledge used by communities in
disaster prone areas of India Nepal and Sri Lanka

From Caroline Borchard, UNDP - Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, New Delhi- contribution
from a previous discussion

Listening to Communities: A Study on Traditional Disaster Risk Reduction Activities in
Northern Afghanistan
Research Paper; ActionAid; Afghanistan; October 2008; English version available at
http://dipechoafg.com/downloads/pdf/Dipecho%20DRR%20Research%20Paper.pdf (PDF, Size: 624
KB)
Explores some indigenous practices and coping mechanisms of the community in Northern
Afghanistan to mitigate the effects of multi hazards

Local Knowledge for Disaster Preparedness: A Literature Review
Publication; by Julia Dekens; ICIMOD; Nepal; 2007
Available at http://books.icimod.org/index.php/search/publication/290 (HTML)
Provides an overview of case studies on practices and framework of local knowledge in disaster
management and preparedness

The Snake and the River Don't Run Straight: Local Knowledge on Disaster Preparedness in
the Eastern Terain of Nepal
Report; by Julia Dekens April 2007; ICIMOD; Nepal; English Version available at
http://books.icimod.org/index.php/downloads/pd/143
Highlights the identification and documentation of local knowledge and practices for DRR as well
as developing and testing an analytical framework for local knowledge

From Shantana R. Halder, Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP) and United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Bangladesh- contribution from a previous discussion

Study on capturing indigenous /traditional coping mechanisms in Disaster Management
Terms Of Reference; CDMP; English version available at:
www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/drm/cr/res08040902.doc (Size: 80 KB)
Enlightens the study on identification and documentation of indigenous coping practices that be
used to face disaster situations

Endowed Wisdom: Knowledge of Nature and Coping with disaster in Bangladesh
Book review; by Hasan SHAFIE et al; CDMP; English version available at
Highlights the using of indigenous knowledge to cope with flood, flash flood, water logging,
salinity intrusion, cyclone, drought and wild life disturbances in Bangladesh

Disaster Relief and response by Mahila Mandal (Village Women’s group) in Kullu District
of Himachal Pradesh in Village fire at Malana (Oldest Traditional Panchayat in the
country) (from Arvind Sinha, DRR Practitioner, India- contribution from a previous discussion)
Article; by Arvind Kumar Sinha; Mountain Forum Himalayas, Shimla; English version available at:
Stipulates the significant roles of Mahila Mandal in facing with village fire and supplying relief
materials to support the victims

Indigenous Knowledge and Disaster Risk Reduction: From Practice to Policy (from Anshu
Sharma, SEEDS, New Delhi- contribution from a previous discussion)
Books; by Rajib Shaw et al.; 2009; Permission Required: Yes, Paid Publication; English version of
ordering details and reviews available at
http://www.novapublishers.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=10039

Offers systematic studies that analyze the principles of indigenous knowledge in Disaster Risk
Reduction activities and its correlation to the modern context

Indigenous Knowledge Disaster Risk Reduction: Policy Note (from Abhilash Panda, UNISDR
Asia Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand- contribution from a previous discussion)
Publication; by Rajib Shaw et al.; Kyoto University – SEEDS; Japan; 2008; English version available at
http://www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/drm/cr/res08040906.pdf (PDF, 1 MB)
Lays down the policy note as a guidance for mainstreaming indigenous knowledge in Disaster
Risk Reduction by disaster management actors and institutions in Asian region

Documentation of Good Practices in Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction in India
(from Parimita Routray, New Delhi- contribution from a previous discussion)
Research Proposal; Sphere India-Eficor; English version available at
http://www.sphereindia.org.in/URLs/Proposal_on_DRR_Research.pdf (PDF, 240 KB)
Proposes a project to identify and document good practices and experiences on indigenous risk
reduction mechanisms

Adaptive Capacities of Community to Cope Up with Flood Situations: Flood and Livelihood
Adaptive Capacity Based Compilation (from Amit Kumar, Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group
(GEAG), Lucknow- contribution from a previous discussion)
Report; by Dr.Shiraz A.Wajih; GEAG; January 2008; English version available at
http://www.geagindia.org/Flood_Manual__English_.pdf (PDF, 5.58 MB)
Identifies some practices on coping mechanisms of the community in flood prone areas as well as
other practices on indigenous livelihood interventions

Bilou’s Singing Can Work as a Tsunami Early Detection (from Asep Moh Muhsin, TAGANA,
Cianjur, Indonesia- contribution from a previous discussion)
Article; Antara News; 20 March 2009; Bahasa version available at
http://www.antara.co.id/arc/2009/3/20/nyanyian-bilou-mentawai-dijadikan-deteksi-dini-tsunami/
Explores the indigenous knowledge of the local community of the Mentawai Islands for early
warning systems of various symptoms

Report of Coping Mechanisms during Bihar Flood: Indigenous Coping Strategy (from
Munish Kaushik, Association For Stimulating Know How (ASK), Gurgaon- contribution from a previous
discussion)
Report; Association for Stimulating Know How (ASK), Gurgaon; English version available at
http://www.solex-un.net/repository/id/dmrr/CR4-res1-eng.doc (DOC, 201 KB)
Identifies some indigenous coping mechanisms which can be used for future action plan based
on the outcome of the Community Disaster risk Reduction study

Orissa Super Cyclone, 99 (from Chandrasekhar, India Disaster Management Support Project,
USAID/International Resources Group, New Delhi- contribution from a previous discussion)
Books; by Mr. M.C.Gupta,Director; National Center for Disaster Management, 2000; Permission
Required: Yes, Paid Publication; English version available at:
http://www.nidm.net/NCDMPublications6.asp
Lays on some essential lesson learnt from Orissa super cyclone in 1999 and address some issues
that need to be put in place to avoid such calamities in future

Recommended Contacts and Experts

Dr Alka Singh, AMRITA, A PEOPLE'S VOICE; (from Gyaneshwar Singh, Independent Consultant,
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India)

Plot No. 125, Leelapur Road, Chack Hariharvan, Jhunsi, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, Pincode-221506,
India
Dr. Singh has worked on the issue of traditional knowledge; she can be a resource person.

Mr. K. Karthik Pyramanic Shyam Sundar, KISEA, Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu (from K. Karthik
Pyramanic Shyam Sundar, KISEA, Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu, India)
KISEA, Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu; pyramanic@gmail.com
Has been working with the local fishing community in Tamil Nadu; is interested to be a part of
this initiative.

Mr. Biswa Ranjan Behera, Secretary, Society of Development Action (SODA),
Mayurbhanj (from Abha Mishra, United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, Delhi)
Vill. Indapahi, Post Laxmiposi, Via Baripada, Mayurbhanj-757107, Orissa, India; Tel.: +62-6792-
52841/ 78179
Recommended as he was involved in the study related to early warning system
supported by ILO

Recommended Organizations and Programmes

From P. C. Joshi, Society for Indian Medical Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, Delhi
University, Delhi

Ministry of Culture, New Delhi
Government of India; Tel: 23386765; http://www.indiaculture.nic.in/ ;
Anthropological Survey of India researches on indigenous knowledge in Disaster Risk
Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation.

SAARC Disaster Management Centre, New Delhi(from Name, Organization, Location)
IIPA Campus, I.P. Estate, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Delhi- 110002; Tel: 91-11-23724085.; Fax: 91-
11-23702446. dir.sdmc@gmail.com; http://saarc-sdmc.nic.in/index.asp
The SAARC Disaster Management Centre has undertaken a study exploring the IKS in
DRR and CCA from SAARC regions.

Development Research Communication and Services Centre, Kolkota (from Anshuman Das,
Development Research Communication and Services Centre, Kolkota, West Bengal, India)
58A, Dharmotola Road, Bosepukur, Kasba; Kolkata 700042, West Benga; Tel: 91 033 2442 7311,
2441 1646; Fax: 91-033 2442 7563 : drcsc.ind@gmail.com, drcsc@alliancekolkata.com ;
www.drcsc.org;
Works in West Bengal to capture the ITKs in agriculture and livelihood sector, validates it and
send back to the community as a package of practice.

From Archana Chatterjee, WWF-India, New Delhi

WWF, New Delhi
172 B Lodhi Estate New Delhi 110003 India +91 11 4150 4815 +91 11 2469 1226
http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/aboutcc/problems/people_at_risk/personal_stories/;
WWF has used the “Climate Witness” approach to capture IK stories from the ground; and has
compiled the stories from Ladakh and Sunderbans.

Sikkim Springs, Sikkim
Rural Management & Development Department, Government of Sikkim, India;http://sikkimsprings.org/;
An interesting initiative of Sikkim Government to develop a village “Springs Atlas”.

Ideosync Media Combine, Faridabad (from Venu Arora, Ideosync Media Combine, Faridabad,
Haryana, India)
177, Ashoka Enclave III, Faridabad, Haryana; http://www.ideosyncmedia.org/about_us.htm
Is a Communication for social change organization and has been working on a wide variety of
issues including health, adolescent sexuality, gender and governance.

Rural Reconstruction and Development Society, Andhra Pradesh (from V. Gangi Reddy,
Nellore, Andhra Pradesh)
Maruthi Nagar, Nellatur Post, Nellore District, South India, Gudur 524102, Andhra Pradesh; Tel:
918624222589; Fax: 91 252110; rrds111@gmail.com, rrds111@yahoo.com
Works for the empowerment of dalits and carries out pre and post disaster management
activities also involved in relief and rehabilitation programmes following the 2004 Tsunami.

Vitality Index of Traditional Environmental Knowledge, Venezuela (from Sunder Subramanian,
Independent International and Infrastructure Consultant/Advisor, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India)
Apartado 21827, Caracas 1020-A, República Bolivariana de Venezuela, email: sent.@ivic.ve;
http://www.terralingua.org/projects/vitek/vitek.htm;
Index focuses on rating the vitality status of TEK within selected groups and allow for relative
comparisons of that status among groups at different scales of inclusiveness.

People’s Biodiversity Registers Program (PBR), Chennai (from Jyotiraj Patra, Concern
Worldwide India, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India*)
National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), 475, 9th South Cross Street, Kapaleeswarar Nagar, Neelangarai,
Chennai – 600 041
Programme for collecting and documenting a variety of traditional knowledge and strengthening
its systematic integration in to the global scientific knowledge domain

Oxfam America, Boston, USA(from Annie George, BEDROC, Nagapattinam)
226 Causeway Street 5th Floor Boston, MA 02114; Tel: 1-800-7769326.; Fax: 1-617-728-2594.
info@oxfamamerica.org; http://www.oxfamamerica.org/
Empowers organizations of indigenous peoples and minorities, increase the capacities of
local leadership for DRR post-tsunami activities.

Recommended Portals and Information Bases

From Anshu Sharma, SEEDS, New Delhi- contribution from a previous discussion

Disaster Reduction Hyperbase – Asian Application (DRH-Asia), NIED-Japan
http://drh.edm.bosai.go.jp/; Contact Hiroyuki Kameda; DRH Manager; Tel: 81-78-2625521.;
kameda@edm.bosai.go.jp
Offers open and interactive access and participation and consists of database, forum, and
Transferable Indigenous Knowledge Links as well as project activities

Community Monitoring and Preparedness for Natural Disasters (COMPREND)
http://www.globalwatch.org/ungp/; Contact Jean J. Chu; Co-Founder; Tel: 1-718-791-9763.;
jeanjchu@gmail.com
Promotes indigenous knowledge in Disaster Risk Reduction by sharing of community
disaster experiences and advances in forecasting technologies

Recommended Tools and Technologies

Community-based Risk Screening Tool-Adaptation and Livelihood (from Jyotiraj Patra,
Concern Worldwide India, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India)
Available at http://www.iisd.org/cristaltool/
A screening tool designed to help integrate risk reduction and climate change
adaptation into community-level projects, can be used to capture and integrate
traditional knowledge for climate adaptation and risk reduction planning.

Related Consolidated Replies

Using indigenous knowledge for disaster risk management activities, from Bibhu
Kalyan Mohanty, SAMBANDH, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India (Experience; Example).
Disaster Management Community India and Disaster Management and Risk
Reduction Community, Indonesia,
Issued 03/June/2009. Available at ftp://ftp.solutionexchange.net.in/public/drm/cr/cr-se-drm-
08040901.pdf (PDF,136 KB)
Includes indigenous knowledge used for disaster risk management activities and inclusion of such
activities in incorporated into the current scientific framework.

Enabling Conservation of Medicinal Plants and Traditional Knowledge for Climate
Change Adaptation, from Tenzing Ingty, ATREE, Bangalore (Experiences; Advice).
Climate Change Community and Food and Nutrition Security
Community, New Delhi,
Issued 17/June/2011. Available at ftp://ftp.solutionexchange.net.in/public/clmt/cr/cr-se-clmt-food-
13051101.pdf (PDF,196 KB)
Measures to promote eco-tourism, conserve medicinal plants, traditional knowledge and
certification of traditional healers have been highlighted.

Input for National Consultation on Best Practices in Tribal Areas, from Ivy Miller
Chahal, Tribal Research and Development Institute, Government of Madhya Pradesh,
Bhopal (Experiences; Examples). Climate Change Community, New Delhi,
Issued 18/February/2010. Available at ftp://ftp.solutionexchange.net.in/public/clmt/cr/cr-se-clmt-
11120901.pdf (PDF,112 KB)
Approaches to vulnerability assessment in tribal areas and community based mitigation
and adaptation measures were pointed out.

Climate Change in the Hindu Kush Himalayas, from Krishna S. Vatsa, Bureau of Crisis
prevention and Recovery-UNDP, New Delhi (Experiences; Examples). Climate Change
Community and Disaster Management Community, New Delhi,
Issued 11/January/2011. Available at ftp://ftp.solutionexchange.net.in/public/clmt/cr/cr-se-clmt-
drm-14121001.pdf (PDF,142 KB)
Climate Change impacts, adaptation and mitigation measures adopted in the eco-fragile
Hindu Kush Himalayas were discussed.

Disaster Risk Reduction in the Hindu Kush Himalayas, from Krishna S. Vatsa, Bureau
of Crises Prevention and Recovery-UNDP, New Delhi (Experiences). Disaster
Management Community and Climate Change Community, New Delhi,
Issued 21/December/2010. Available at ftp://ftp.solutionexchange.net.in/public/drm/cr/cr-se-
drm-clmt-16111001.pdf (PDF,276 KB)
Experiences of DRR in Hindu Kush Himalayas, community responses and role of government
institutions were discussed.

Responses in Full
Sunder Subramanian, Independent International and Infrastructure
Consultant/Advisor, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
Broadly, I think what you need is a three stage process:
(a) Putting into place a network/system of informants who keep their ears and eyes out for
potential instances of traditional wisdom;
(b) A process of vetting -- where you visit the site and evaluate the authenticity and potential
communication value of a particular instance -- based on a scoring scale so that you can keep
processes codified and on record; and
(c) Where deemed of sufficient authenticity and commutations value, carry out documenting.

The documenting can be done at multiple levels -- stand-alone photo-essays, multimedia (online
and CD/DVD or other media), and categorized for effective electronic storage and recovery as
such repositories build up in scale. Your networks/network building in (a) above can be initially
focus on areas of high (potential) climate change impact or disaster risk, such as the mountain
systems, arid/semi-arid areas, seismically active areas, flood-prone areas, wetlands, coastal
zones (especially zones of high ecological value or those under extreme anthropogenic stress),
areas with high concentrations of indigenous populations, etc.

P. C. Joshi, Society for Indian Medical Anthropology, Department of Anthropology,
Delhi University, Delhi
I would like to congratulate Safer World Communications for initiating this important exercise.
For India in particular, the turning point in our thinking came about after the Tsunami of 2004
when we learnt that the ill-equipped indigenous communities of Andaman and Nicobar remained
untouched while the well-equipped settler community suffered most of the damage. The latter
included highly organized community of Indian Air Force. This led to official government support
for the researches on indigenous knowledge in DRR and CCA. The Ministry of Culture,
Government of India’s Anthropological Survey of India initiated a very large scale consultation on
this topic and reported studies from Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The SAARC Disaster
Management Centre also undertook one study exploring the IKS in DRR and CCA from SAARC
regions. I helped SDMC in their study on the flood disasters in India.

While investigating the domain of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS), we need to understand
this knowledge not as isolated recipes but as system well entrenched in the web of knowledge.
Furthermore, IKS in general taken to mean only for the early warning while we need to consider
IKS for the entire gamut of disaster cycle, viz. pre-disaster, disaster per se and post-disaster.
While the social structure becomes rather weak during crisis situations, its true strength is also
revealed during such occasions. IKS as a body of knowledge has to be studied intensely by both
quantitative and qualitative methods. While social structural or factual aspects can best be
revealed through the quantitative survey kind of methods, for example, the knowledge, attitude,
practice, etc., the aspect of human ingenuity, maneuvering and plasticity or the social
organizational aspects can only the known in a qualitative-ethnographic kind of study.

Anshuman Das, Development Research Communication and Services Centre, Kolkota,
West Bengal, India
Thanks for this very important issue raised by Vijayalakshmi Viswanathan.

I am engaged with Development Research Communication and Services Centre (www.drcsc.org),
who is active in stressed region of West Bengal, tries to capture the ITKs in agriculture and

livelihood sector, validate it and send back to the community as a package of practice. Some of
those are following.

• Grain Bank: Bengal has a tradition of community grain reserve practices so that at the
time of scarcity and disaster, grains can be borrowed at a very low rate of interest, which
is retuned back to the gain bank itself. This can provide support during sudden attack of
disaster. In the last ten years, 175 such grain banks have been created with 3000
households in south Bengal. Most of the banks have enough grain reserves to last for 60
days.
• Seed Bank: Getting seeds is a big problem if crop is lost due to disasters. We have
encouraged farmers to document the old crops which are suitable to local agro
climate and keep stock of native variety seeds. Seeds are shared during stress and post
disaster. There are atleast13 saline tolerant paddy variety identified, which is in the verge
of extinction.
• Integrated farming: Farmers in Bengal are used to cultivate at least 5-6 types of
crops, 10-12 types of vegetables, fruit and fuel trees, medicinal plants including 2-3
types of livestock - all coupled together as an integrated farming system. Which
decreases external dependency of synthetic chemicals by utilizing garbage and non-
human excreta to produce biogas and other organic inputs? A multi layered mixed
cropping, for example paddy-fish-duck-azolla, construction of poultry or a vegetable
structure over the pond etc is done to make the system self equipped and better resilient
to vagaries. As the type/time/form of output is diversified to the extreme, you will get
something or the other, even if, there is a disaster.
• Land shaping in water logging areas: Low lands remain waterlogged for at least 6 –
7 months in a year in absence of any escape route for the accumulated rain/flashflood
water. In order to address this problem, the farmers in Sunderbans, change the shape of
the land so that a pond/canal/trench is excavated in a portion of the plot, where the
water is drained and the excavated soil is used to raise a section to make it suitable for
growing vegetables throughout the year.
• Uncultivated food: There are number of edible weed, unconventional fruit, unknown
leafy vegetables which the minority communities use to collect from the commons to
meet their nutritional need. These don’t need much care and water; we encourage those
by collecting information bringing it under cultivation practices.
• Mixed cropping: Especially in drylands, knowledge mixed cropping with minor millets,
pulses etc are also very valuable to combat slow onset disasters like drought.

There is a lot of other knowledge which has been documented (Audio-Visual and written report),
and can be used for CCA and DRM. Please click here to see an example of capturing such
understanding of CC and CCA.

Smriti Shukla, GoI-UNDP Disaster Risk Reduction Programme, Lucknow, Uttar
Pradesh, India
Climate change threatens development and the progress needed to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals. With shifting seasons, increasing water scarcity, and potentially more
frequent and intense extreme events (IPCC 2007), climate change is bringing a series of disaster
and livelihood impacts to the poorest and most vulnerable countries and communities, and is
placing development assistance at risk.

Over the past decade, progressively more attention has been given to converging DRR and CCA
agendas conceptually and in practice at sub-national, national and international levels. This has

paralleled the emergence of ‘adaptation’ as a critical component of the global response to climate
change and the institutionalization of DRR signaled by the agreement of the 2005 Hyogo
Framework for Action (HFA). CCA and DRR have much in common. Both aim to reduce the
impacts of shocks by anticipating risks and uncertainties and addressing vulnerabilities.

Indeed, a significant portion of climate change impacts will materialize through exacerbating
climate variability (for example an especially wet rainy season) and extreme weather events
(such as heavy rainfall events) However, while reducing the risk of weather extremes is a
substantial component of managing climate risk and of the overlap between DRR and CCA, DRR
does not equal CCA, and effective disaster risk management in a changing climate is more than
business as usual. DRR needs to take account of changes in these hazards, and CCA aims to
reduce their impacts. Two key distinctions are that:
• DRR addresses the risks of geophysical hazards (such as volcanoes and earthquakes),
Whereas CCA does not.
• CCA also considers the long-term adjustment to changes in mean climatic conditions,
Including the opportunities that this can provide, and how people and organizations can
develop the capacities to stimulate and respond to longer-term change processes. This
has not been a traditional focus of practical applications of DRR.

For both CCA and DRR, key shared objectives include protecting development gains and effective
planning and programming: managing risks and uncertainties for all shocks and stresses is simply
good business, particularly in the face of mounting evidence that disasters are hampering
development and poverty alleviation (UN-ISDR 2009a). On the other hand, as experience has
shown, neither government-led CCA nor DRR will happen automatically (Mitchell and Van Aalst
2008). At a more technical level, the rapid expansion of climate change-related efforts may waste
time and risk reinventing older approaches if they neglect learning from experiences, methods
and tools developed for DRR. On the other hand, efforts on DRR that do not take account of the
impacts of climate change on the frequency and magnitude of hazards, exposure and
vulnerability may not only fail to achieve their objectives, but even increase vulnerability, for
instance when flood defense provide a false sense of security, but will fail to provide lasting
protection against rising flood risk.

The third biennial Global Community Safety and Resilience Forum took place in Damascus from
29–31 March 2011 and gathered nearly 120 participants, including representatives from
approximately 70 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The discussions in Damascus
were guided by Strategy 2020’s broad agenda and focused around the broad goal of
strengthening approaches and commitment to promoting community safety and resilience. The
meeting also set an agenda for the coming two years to further enhance and integrate
community resilience into IFRC programmes. The final conclusions consisted of a 16-point
programme of recommended action points around three themes:

• Scaling-up investment in safety and resilience programming at the community-level and
sustaining community interventions
• Integrating cross-sectoral concerns into Red Cross and Red Crescent programming
• Increasing investment in community safety and resilience through advocacy and effective
resource mobilization.

The third session of UNISDR’s Global DRR Platform, which took place in Geneva from 8–13 May
2011, provided the IFRC (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies) with
an opportunity to profile its DRR agenda. This included participation with the German Committee
for Disaster Reduction in addressing early warning needs and the content of early warning
messages. The IFRC also collaborated with UNDP and other UN agencies to present a side event
at the Global DRR Platform, which addressed the importance of risk 4identification in the context

of strengthening national capacities to manage risks. The IFRC led its own side event positing
questions around how legislation can promote DRR at the community-level. (From Community
preparedness and risk reduction Appeal No. MAA00021 25 AUGUST 2011).

Anuj Tiwari, Global Forum for Disaster Reduction (GFDR), New Delhi
Majority of our population lives in rural areas. When viewed in the development context, rural
areas have always been lagging behind in delivery of services to them such as education, health,
drinking water, sanitation, public distribution, transportation, power supply, infrastructure, etc.

In the absence of any formal training or knowledge to cope up with various challenges, the rural
masses have learned how to live with these hazards and challenges and have built up, through
thousands of years of experience and intimate contact with the environment, a vast body of
knowledge to face difficult conditions and natural disasters. This knowledge is a precious
resource that continues to contribute to environmental conservation and natural disaster
management in these regions.

Community is always the first responder in the event of any disaster, so it is always advisable for
them to be well prepared with a system to cope with the disasters. The Government machinery,
though more efficient and organized, takes some time to reach the site of occurrence of any
disaster. Indigenous knowledge, experience and local resources play an important role on sudden
onset of any disaster and during immediate post-disaster period.

There have been prevalent local practices about warnings and coping mechanisms that have
played an important role for many years. Careful observation of the behavior of animals, and of
the appearance and color of the sky, is used as early warning of natural disasters. Even our
ancient religious texts have quoted many such events and the ways to tackle them for ages.
Traditional wisdom based on accumulated local knowledge and experience for centuries must not
be lost and needs to be preserved and utilized.

People find ways to live harmoniously with the environment using the knowledge they have
acquired through the process of trial and error over years, decades and sometimes centuries. In
their adaptation to the environment, people have developed strategies to cope with changes in
the environment and threats relating to natural disasters. These may be in the form of
technology or social and economic practices or even behavior, which are sometimes manifested
in the form of folklores, songs, proverbs that become part of cultural beliefs and practices.
Interpretations of such beliefs and practices give a good insight about why communities act
differently at given space and time.

The major challenge in replicating these knowledge and practices is lack of documentation as
these are generally transferred orally from one generation to another through a process of
socialization and is internalized by the communities as part of their life style activities. Hardly
ever this knowledge is documented or written down in texts or manuscripts for posterity or
outsiders. Indigenous knowledge is essentially local knowledge which is practiced in the local
situations and, therefore there would be thousands of innovative ways that the community would
use and adapt such knowledge for their survival against the odds of nature.

Indigenous knowledge on DRR could have many dimensions – technological, economic, social
and cultural etc. Technological aspects of indigenous knowledge are most visible as compared to
others and can be used in other contexts as well. Many communities have also developed their
indigenous economic strategies to deal with the disaster situations. Social and community
relations and social dynamics play an important role in mitigating disaster impacts. Cultural

values and religious beliefs also help in perceiving and responding to disasters. All these aspects
need to be seen and developed in totality for strengthening community response.

Archana Chatterjee, WWF-India, New Delhi
These issues are very relevant to my work. From WWF perspective:
a. WWF has used the “Climate Witness” approach to capture such stories from the
ground. We have compiled the stories from Ladakh and Sunderbans and produced it in
form of a publication. This is available digitally too for wider dissemination. Secondly,
film is a very powerful medium for communication in local language. We have made a
film in Ladakhi (as well as English) titled 'Living with Change', which is also available
with WWF-India. Details are available at:
http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/aboutcc/problems/people_at_risk/personal_stor
ies/
b. Currently, we are working with youth and children in Ladakh through local language
media tools to convey the messages linked to DRR and CCA.
c. We have also participated in an initiative of Sikkim Government to develop a village
“Springs Atlas” (http://sikkimsprings.org/)

Benefits of the Springs Atlas include:
• Better understanding of the spring water resource by providing details of various
studies and reports online at one platform. For students resource material is provided
to enhance their knowledge about the springs, their typology, origin, threats and
ways and means of reviving them through ground water recharge.
• Extensive survey of the springs in Sikkim by providing their location superimposed on
Google Earth platform along with basic information of the spring like dependence,
location, elevation, discharge etc. help in identifying critical springs and thereby
prioritizing them.
• Findings of experiment on reviving critical springs in various drought prone areas are
also provided along with hydrographs. This learning will help in up scaling and
expanding this initiative in other locations.
• Weather data from spatially disaggregated datasets is also provided for use. This
data is updated from the Automated Weather Stations located in the blocks.
Thus, as far as communication is concerned, to reach out to target communities, it is important
to use local language in the final knowledge product. Visual media is quite powerful and stories
backed by scientific explanations make good advocacy material too.

Prashant Khattri, Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University, Wardha,
Maharashtra, India
The Anthropological approach has always focused on understanding the emic (insider's) point of
view. This approach is reflected best when an anthropologist tries to understand the local
knowledge of the people regarding resilience or coping from a disaster situation. Understanding
the indigenous knowledge regarding disaster preparedness and coping is based on the fact that
people develop some knowledge in order to adapt to their environment, which is based on their
past experience with similar situations. It is a fact that when the tsunami hit the Indian sub-
continent, many tribes living in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands saved themselves from
devastation. This was made possible because of their reliance on indigenous knowledge of
natural warning signals in the form of movement and activity of birds, animals and aquatic life.
Over a long period of time they must have observed such signals which became incorporated in
their collective consciousness. This type of knowledge gets transmitted from generation to
generation in the form of oral tradition. This type of knowledge is not documented by the
community, but it has shown its importance time and again in case of an emergency.

Now, it has been fully realized that the indigenous knowledge system can become an important
tool in disaster management. It is of such an importance that the national policy on disaster
management approved by the union cabinet on October 22, 2009 has devoted a separate section
on knowledge management for better disaster management and in this section it also talks about
the importance of indigenous knowledge “which is handed down right from ancient times by way
of tried and tested practices in facing disasters in different parts of India.” Although, much needs
to be done in the form of actual documentation and dissemination of this kind of knowledge.

My experience of working in a village community inundated by floods revealed that people
developed their own knowledge of dealing with such situations. This kind of indigenous
knowledge can largely be divided into technological, economic and environmental. The
technological dimension deals with the local understanding and know-how of building flood-proof,
make-shift huts that can be carried on a bullock-cart in case of floods inundating the entire area.
The economic dimension suggests that people are not dependent upon a single source of income
and are engaged in multiple economic activities, so that they can fall back on the alternatives in
case of floods destroying their fields. The environmental dimension is the most interesting which
comprises their knowledge of identifying environmental signal of an approaching flood.

Venu Arora, Ideosync Media Combine, Faridabad, Haryana, India
Ideosync Media Combine is a Communication for social change organization and we have been
working on a wide variety of issues including health, adolescent sexuality, gender and
governance to name a few. Over the last seven years our intensive work with the Ministry of
Information & Broadcasting, Government of India and local partners in establishing Community
radio stations has been very inspiring.

In response to this query and for the consideration of this group I would like to share the
following points:

1. It is essential to create communication processes right at the start of the project planning
phase and not towards the end when you are looking for just materials. Communication
is a much more intensive and long term engagement that projects need to make.

2. Participatory communication is key for social change. It is essential to identify and put
into process methodologies that engage community members to create their own media
and enable the communities to take charge of the process of knowledge creation and
sharing. This also enables the community to become empowered watchdogs especially
for difficult to achieve social change issues like climate change.

3. The simplified understanding that providing information would lead to change in
knowledge levels in community members and affect their attitude and practice does not
quite work in a complex web of everyday life that people live. Therefore it is necessary to
understand how practices and norms get reinforced and entrenched. Initiating
conversations among community members, through a variety of innovative dialogue
creating mechanisms leads to local innovation and modification of practices in the long
term. Communication for social change needs to therefore become part of the everyday
lives of people and enable the change to emerge from within community structures.

4. It is essential for donors and partners to understand the need for innovative monitoring
and evaluation tools that capture the essence of the process of social change being
brought about through participatory media and communication. Short term impact
verifications and log frames will not capture the qualitative learning process that a truly
participatory communication methodology initiates.

Ideosync will be very happy to partner with organizations to develop innovative methodologies
through which community media, new and old media technologies can be accessed by local
communities to generate and disseminate their own knowledge and bring about social change on
their own terms.

Amit Choubey, Sri Someswar Nath Mahadev Trust, Champaran, Bihar, India
We are working for DRR in east Champaran district of Areraj Block, Bihar in the surrounding area
of Narayani river, people call it Gandak also.

I want to contribute few points only:

What do we need to address?

1. The pre and post effect on population, animals and environment (Trees and crops).

2. Training and knowledge transfer (Both way)

3. Local youth and women Teams for rescue and their training like swimming.

4. Fixing up sustainable model with right mix of traditional ways and latest technology, so
that technology will compliment the existing traditional methods.

5. There are few traditional methods like creating rural water body pond and other small
water bodies for fisheries.

6. They dig small water bodies for brick making.

7. They cultivate water born crops and fruits in the delta of the flood affected region.

8. Built small canals which they call "Hatta" in the agricultural area to retain water.

9. To train and keep volunteers motivated we need to design some training and activity
throughout the year to keep them motivated.

Sunil D Santha, School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai,
Maharashtra, India
The query and initiative is very relevant and would certainly strengthen community-based
disaster risk reduction initiatives across the world. Local Knowledge Systems can act as effective
early warning systems. I have been working in this dimension looking at how local knowledge
systems can be integrated to scientific early warning systems. Earlier, I had looked at the
possibility of capturing the various spheres of local knowledge with respect to monsoon
prediction in India. The corresponding paper titled “A Societal Knowledge Management System:
Harnessing Indigenous Wisdom to Build Sustainable Predictors for Adaptation to Climate Change”
By Sunil D Santha, Bardo Fraunholz and Chandana Unnithan , published in International Journal
of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses, is available at:
http://tiss.academia.edu/SunilSantha/Papers/771163/A_societal_knowledge_management_syste
m_harnessing_indigenous_wisdom_to_build_sustainable_predictors_for_adaptation_to_climate_c
hange

An initial field-level enquiry and survey of literature related to monsoon prediction in India
presented in the paper revealed certain important traditional knowledge spheres. The knowledge
spheres could be classified as those pertaining to:

(a) The characteristics of rain: For instance, farmers in Kerala believe that heavy rains will
follow a very hot summer month.

(b) Atmospheric patterns: For example, farmers anticipate heavy rains within a couple of
hours if their sky attains a dark color, - as dark as crow’s egg. Conversely, they predict drought
conditions, if the sky acquires a faint yellow color.

(c) Characteristics of celestial bodies: Rural populations in India observe that the presence
of rings or halo around the sun or moon indicates imminent rain.

(d) Characteristics of wind movement: Farmers in Tamil Nadu observe that the Northeast
wind brings rain and the northwest wind wipes out the rain. They also expect a good rain in
October- November, if there is more wind during July-August.

(e) Bio-indicators: The good foliage of Mahuda (Madhuca Latifolia) tree indicates good
monsoons.

(f) Calendar months and constellations: farmers in Saurashtra region plan their farming
activities by referring to the traditional calendars and almanacs.

(g) Astrological methods: These knowledge spheres are based on certain key principles
related to planetary movements and constellations but were not included in the paper.

(h) Festivals and rituals: For example, local communities associate the commencement or
termination of monsoons with certain festivals and rituals respectively. For example, local
communities in north India, predict the occurrence of rain by observing the wind direction
during Holi.

Presently, I am involved in a research project that attempts to capture local knowledge systems
as Early Warning Systems (EWS) with respect to coastal hazards in Kerala. The study
is providing interesting insights. After a preliminary review of secondary literature on the field,
we have conducted in-depth interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) to capture local
knowledge. I would be happy to share my understanding on the same in your esteemed effort to
strengthen traditional DRR practices.

Gyaneshwar Singh, Independent Consultant, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
You have raised very good query. The compilation and promotion of Traditional DRR & CCA
Knowledge is the need of current hour.

I am of opinion that Dr Alka Singh can support you on this issue. Her address is as under:
Dr Alka Singh
President
AMRITA, A PEOPLE'S VOICE
Head Office:
Plot No. 125, Leelapur Road, Chack Hariharvan, Jhunsi,
Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, Pincode-221506, India

K. Karthik Pyramanic Shyam Sundar, KISEA, Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu, India

I am K. Karthik Pyramanic Shyam Sundar, and have some knowledge and experience in working
among the fishing community people. Have been working for the fishing community affected by
tsunami and by floods every year. We also have some village level task force group trainees in
my operating area. I would be interested in being part of this initiative.

Man B.Thapa, UNDP, Kabul, Afghanistan
I regularly read the queries and responses on the Solution Exchange and learned a lot from such
discussions/ contributions. This one on the Indigenous Knowledge (IK), I read at the very first
day and also watch the short video, as this is one of my fields of interest.

Well, in my experience working in the field of disaster management in Asia, I have seen several
wonderful IK and management practices on flood and landslide control/management (in case
of Nepal) and building designs (in Nias, Indonesia) among others in a scattered and scanty
manner. I am sure there are several other such IK and Indigenous Management Practices (IMPs)
that exist today in many remote and isolated disaster prone hamlets and communities in different
parts of the world. In my understanding, very little documentations of such knowledge and
practices, especially in the field of disaster management exists in our part of the world.
The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
(UNISDR) publication “Indigenous Knowledge for DRR” (2008) is one of them. Having said this,
there are several good documentations and publications in the field of natural resources (forest,
rangeland/ pasture, irrigation systems, etc.) management in South Asia.

Before saying “this or that IK or IMPs" is “good or bad”, we (development – disaster
management actors/ workers and researchers) must examine what are the strengths and
weakness of such IK and IMPs. As a development actor our roles at the community level is to
scale up or built on the strong aspects of IK and IMPs and improve/ strengthen the weak areas
of such knowledge and practices through our technical knowledge and experiences rather
introducing only exogenous knowledge and practices, which in many cases are costly and takes
time to adjust in new environment. I believe that many such IK and IMPs are developed based
on them and their felt need, with a very constraint financial resources and other form of support
from external actors. Therefore, such IK and IMPs are cost effective, adjusted to local context,
useful and practical even in present context. Similarly, many studies especially in Nepal revealed
that community members or farmers picked quickly on any technologies and practices that are
built on IK than the entire exogenous. However, due to rapid urbanization, accessibility and
movements, external supports, heterogeneous society/community etc. such IK and IMPs are
eroded and less in practice.

Therefore, my suggestions are as follows:

• Let us try to document such IK and IMPs on disaster management whatever are still
in practices and existed at the community level where we work.
• Sharing and validation of knowledge and practices through workshops/ meetings;
• Use/ replicate such IK and IMPs based on our need and context. I believe that all IK
and IMPs may not be suitable in each and every communities and challenges; and
• Based on validation, publish such IK and IMPs as source book and disseminate. I
believe that academic and research institutions will be immensely benefited including
development actors like us from such documentation and knowledge sharing.

Shalini Jain, SEEDS, New Delhi
Local women have worked with men to effectively change the ecological profile of the area by
preventing deforestation and recharging water resources. The could be best exhibited through an

initiative that started in 1976 as a spontaneous nonviolent protest against indiscriminate
deforestation, which had been resulting in frequent floods and landslides. Women organized as
environmental activists and acted as human shields preventing trees from being cut down. This
was a people led movement, which has now transformed the way the state and local government
looked at the forestry and natural resource management. It is an ongoing process, now
organized in the form of a registered body called the Dasholi Gram Samaj Mandal.

The movement was initiated in Dasholi Village of Chamoli district of the then undivided state of
Uttar Pradesh. The women of Dasholi Gram then mobilized women’s groups from neighboring
villages. This later spread to other districts in the region that included Uttarkashi, Tehri Garhwal
and Pauri Garhwal. Dasholi Gram Samaj Mandal is the institution now, anchoring the
conservation of natural resources – jal, jangal aur jameen or water, forest and land to reduce
disaster risk in the region. The partners are women’s groups from villages that are dependent on
the local forest for their essential needs, like water, fodder and firewood. The initiative introduced
fundamental shifts in gender elations due to women’s positioning as community leaders. Their
actions resulted in the regeneration of the forest, a reduction in the drudgery borne by the village
women, and less in damage from floods and landslides.

This is a good practice because the efforts of the local women’s groups under the leadership of
Dasholi Gram Swaraj Mandal have effectively changed the ecological profile of the area
(confirmed by satellite pictures) by preventing deforestation and recharging water resources. It is
also an unprecedented model of people led disaster risk reduction and development. This
example elicited that local wisdom and action can bring transformative shifts in development and
DRR practice. Besides, this the empowerment of women lies in their organization and action;
outside development actors such as government, NGOs and donor agencies need to create only
the conducive conditions for local women to reach their potential and take action.

For more information please go through the links below
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipko_movement
http://www.rmaf.org.ph/madc/items/browse/tag/Dasholi+Gram+Swarajya+Mandal
http://www.lokashakti.org/dev/encyclopedia/groups/727-dasholi-gram-swarajya-mandal
http://www.gender-
climate.org/pdfs/Gender_Perspectives_Integrating_DRR_CC_Good%20Practices.pdf

Annie George, BEDROCK, Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu, India
We did a Study for OXFAM America on Understanding the increase in capacities of local
leadership for DRR post- tsunami and stumbled across some very interesting observations. The
most striking thing was that indigenous capacities do exist but atrophy in inverse proportion to
the external support systems available. In areas which are not generally accessed by formal
systems like Govt/ NGOs, especially where there is a cohesive community with strong traditional
governance mechanisms, like tribal communities, they have evolved their own indigenous
methods of EWS, tracking the oncoming floods, rescue and rehabilitation!!!

In one flood-prone tribal community living in a flood prone area, in Cudallore, Tamil Nadu, they
had constituted small groups of youth who would monitor the level of the rising water in the river
with notches on a stick. When it started reaching their pre- marked danger points, the youth
would inform the rest of the community who would then gather whatever they had to and leave
for higher areas. They had a mechanism of tying ropes across the river so that they could hold
on to that while crossing the flooded river and not get lost in the flow or lose their direction. They
also had a method of collecting some money per month per family which then went into meeting
their needs while they were without livelihood support during the floods. They have managed to
successfully face frequent flooding this way. The Tribal Leader has the final say in all their

activities and this single voice of control is also useful during such emergency situations. The
concept of a disaster management fund was seen common across both tribal communities
studied.

On studying two slightly more developed villages, with similar vulnerabilities but different support
structures, we found to our surprise that the village closer to a semi- urban area where they
could move during calamities, was ill prepared as far as coping mechanisms were concerned and
nonchalantly replied that they move to the neighboring place and live on Government led relief
systems till the floods recede. On the other had, the other village which did not have such
support systems had their escape routes planned out and the traditional governance systems
taking more responsibilities to safeguard their constituency.

This led us to feel that in our haste to set up DRR systems, we do not pay attention to the
existing traditional systems and practices, thereby not only eroding their knowledge and
capacities, but also leaving them more vulnerable without our continued hand-holding support.

NGOs working in DRR should make it a point to understand, respect and build upon traditional
systems and practices and existing governance structures, before attempting something that
could be totally alien to their style of life.

Looking forward to a discussion on this extremely interesting subject, with a view to reorient
ourselves to what we loosely term "participatory planning processes".

Abha Mishra, United Nations Development Programme, New Delhi
It is a known fact that communities dependent on natural resources are closer to nature and
understand its behavior. This is specifically true for the tribal's and farmers as their daily needs as
well as livelihood is dependent on the natural resources be it for subsistence food materials like
roots, mushrooms, leafy vegetables etc or water for their crops. Old community members living
near rivers tell us during discussion on past disaster that earlier, possibility of flooding was
measured by the river flow sound as there was no scientific warning mechanism. We also have
many traditional mechanism of building our houses-starting with the wooden houses in hilly areas
to netted/tied/mushroom shaped roofs of coastal belts or use of bamboo/poles as pillars in mud
houses to ensure that the impact is least on the assets. The variety of rice grains across the
different plains of India are also signs of robust coping mechanism of the community to ensure
subsistence harvest. For a study that specifically relates to early warning system, please refer to
a study supported by ILO way back in 2000-2001 in Durgapur, West Bengal and Mayurbhanj,
Orissa which looked at the issues which you would like to focus on. (Click here to view
report: ftp://ftp.solutionexchange.net.in/public/drm/cr/res08040901.pdf (Size: 112 KB).

You could also like to contact Mr. Bishwa Ranjan Behra, Secretary, Society of
Development Action, Mayurbhanj who was involved in this project.

Dipankar Dasgupta, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
There are numerous examples of traditional knowledge & cultural practices that needs to be
documented and utilized. This will assist in making ‘development sustainable’ as it will
strengthen safety norms, protect & strengthen ecosystems and facilitate community participation.
This, in turn, will strengthen DRR & CCA actions and make it low-cost, replicable and
sustainable as such practices are ‘culturally sensitive’.

There are numerous examples of such traditional knowledge and practices - use of wild foods,
food preservation & preparation, water collection & storage practices, use of medicinal plants,

traditional architecture & housing designs, traditional knowledge of preparedness, mitigation as
well as early warning systems against cyclones, floods, droughts, earthquakes, landslides and
tsunamis (early warning knowledge practiced by ‘primitive tribes’ like the Jarwas of the Andaman
& Nicobar islands) who escaped the Tsunami waves.

There is a positive example of how communities living on the India-Bangladesh border of Nadia
& Murshidabad districts in West Bengal have adopted the housing designs & tube well raising
techniques used by communities living in flood-prone areas of Bangladesh. Later on, when they
developed confidence in their own preparedness, early recovery & mitigation skills, they totally
changed the cropping pattern and other livelihood practices.

There is also the example of the Misings living on the Brahmaputra River Basin, who live on
raised houses & build raised earthen mounds which are used by them for markets or building
community centres or schools and double-up as shelters during severe floods. They have boats
as an equally valuable asset. The most interesting aspect of their coping mechanism is that they
become fishermen during flood seasons, using their boats and become farmers during the Rabi
season when they usually get a bumper crop. Inspite of the success of theMisings to manage
floods and remaining prosperous while all the other surrounding communities suffer due to
regular floods, nobody including the government, NGOs or other communities have
adopted it as the Misings are treated as communities who are down the social
order.

It is thus of paramount importance to design the tools and methodologies of documenting
traditional practices in a manner keeping in mind the cultural ethos f different stakeholders who
are supposed to use them. It should be open-ended in terms of tools – case studies, interactive
meetings, action research or audio-visuals. It is not only prudent to document it geo-climatically
and thematically but also tribe or sect wise. I am suggesting this is that during my involvement in
an action research project many years back on ‘Tribal Medicine’, we found that not only the same
sect term or identify the same plant differently but they have knowledge of the same plants
being used successfully for treating different diseases.

However, the most important aspect that this initiative should keep in mind is how it will be able
to overcome various cultural and other obstacles that it would have to face when one approaches
the policy makers and those who overtly depend on ‘project support’ to continue their activities
to adopt traditional knowledge & cultural practices.

K N Vajpai, Climate Himalaya, Uttarakhand, India
A very interesting aspect thought of and much appreciate that the DM & CC Community of UN
Solution Exchange with Safer world are taking it forward.

On DRR front in Himalayan Mountains, it is far more important that we consider the indigenous
knowledge and validate it with empirical evidences to put such aspects in practice. Whatever
knowledge our forefathers had in this region is either not available in literature or is not
accessible now.

We have practices related to earthquake hazards, and I know that whenever there is an earth
quake we have the practice of quickly standing just below our main gate and always should
remain alert during whole night in cases of aftershocks tremors. In mountains there is practice of
putting most valuable items with you before going to sleep during night and keeping the livestock
free in their living places during such instances.

Here we have various indigenous methods of building construction that contains the indigenous
science to cope with major earthquakes and thunderstorm related calamities. One can observe
that during 1991 earthquake in Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand, families those were living in traditional
houses survived most, while major death tolls were in new construction (mostly RCC based
buildings). One can still see the old houses in major hit region of Uttarkashi those still standing.
In high altitude regions i.e. +3500 Mt. from MSL, people use light weight material to construction
houses e.g. roof with local grasses, floor with wooden structures, and similar support through
wooden framed re-enforcement measures.

Similarly toward climate change adaptation measures we have various types of cropping systems
and agriculture practices those adapt towards rain-fed farming and harsh climatic conditions. The
homestead gardening system, traditional water management techniques, soil conservation
measure and system were developed in accordance with the geomorphological setup and varied
climatic conditions.

There are a number of such local and regional examples across Indian Himalayan region those
could certainly be useful in future considering the DRR and CCA measures.

On the point of capturing such practices I would suggest that following innovative communication
tools those could be considered:

• Listing out the major stakeholders in the focus region those are working and
associated with DRR and CCA related aspects. This could be done through
selecting and focusing on a few lead partners and through them reaching to
other stakeholders. For this initially get connected with maximum number of
organization and finally targeting a selected one.
• Publicizing regular messages through print and electronic media including radio
networks for such initiative and by giving appropriate contact details to contact.
For example local and regional newspapers and magazines have more outreach
than national channels.
• Considering the network of research institutions, universities and colleges could
be helpful in developing and communicating message across and getting it as
well.
• Reviewing the existing literature available with various cultural groups and
organizations in those regions promoting the local culture.
• Discussion and networking with various DRR linked institutions at district and
state level will help in capturing them appropriately as well.

I hope that they are useful.

V G Reddy, Rural Reconstruction and Development Society (RRDS), Gudur, Nellore
District, Andhra Pradesh, India
RRDS is a NGO working in Nellore District of Andhra Pradesh. RRDS has experience in working in
emergencies for example, the Tsunami, particularly for the fishing community.

Rural Reconstruction and Development Society (RRDS) was started by a group of likeminded
social workers in the year 1991 to reach out to the poor and needy Dalits, Tribals, Fisher folk,
Women, children and small and marginal farmers in the remote parts of rural areas of Nellore
District, Andhra Pradesh and works irrespective of caste, creed, color, religion and sex. RRDS has
been playing a facilitative role in the social transformation of the community and empowering the
disadvantaged people by guiding individuals and community-based organizations
(CBO). Sanghams are the basic units to make the community more vibrant to fight against

injustice and involved development process. Community sensitization, capacity building and
process development are the phases involved in our efforts.

RRDS has missionary zeal for reduction of poverty in the lives of target communities by
empowering them through united action with special emphasis on women, children, fishing
community and also agricultural labor as these are the most affected among the rural population
and are living in pitiable conditions. It believes that the target group women, children and
agricultural laborers are exploited and need to be organized as a pressure group to exert
pressure on politicians and bureaucrats to implement programmes meant for their welfare. Thus
the organization allows space and opportunity to initiate programmes of their own which could
help them to break the century old bondage and subjugation. The promoted people’s
organizations are perceived as power equations of the poor that can successfully address
prevailing values, rituals and procedures as well as existing situations and conditions that
contribute to marginalization and exploitation. Further details are available at:
http://www.rrds.org/about_us.html

We have organized Disaster Preparedness capacity building programmes among youth and
volunteers. We have documented traditional knowledge of the fishing community .We are
interested in participating in this workshop. Kindly send further details.

Sunder Subramanian, Independent International and Infrastructure
Consultant/Advisor, Naiad, Uttar Pradesh, India (Response 2)
In addition to my earlier response on the query raised by Vijayalakshmi, I'd also like to point you
to some very interesting work carried out byTerralingua, on a project called VITEK (Vitality Index
of Traditional Environmental Knowledge).

Efforts to document and assess traditional environmental knowledge (TEK) have grown
exponentially in recent decades, stimulated by the concomitant rise in its perceived value. This
reappraisal is a direct consequence of global environmental and social change as well as manifold
threats to the survival and integrity of indigenous peoples and their cultural heritages around the
world. The locally-distinctive systems of knowledge, belief and practice held by small-scale
indigenous societies or distinctive sociocultural segments within more complex societies contain a
wealth of basic and practical information about the natural world, its components and
relationships among them.

For many impoverished groups, this aboriginal or folk wisdom constitutes the main economic
asset that they control. Conservation scientists have emphasized the important contribution
that TEK makes to biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. Yet many observers,
including local groups themselves, have expressed concerns that slowly accumulated, locally
adapted knowledge is disappearing or declining at an alarming rate and therefore pro-active
measures are needed to preserve and protect it. Although it is possible to point to a number of
policy vehicles enacted at international, national, and lower levels which are aimed at reinforcing
or reviving TEK, it remains very unclear and unknown what overall impact, if any, these have
really made. The development of TEK indicators represents the most recent chapter in the search
for more effective policies. Such indicators are intended to identify and measure key components
of TEK and thereby provide a clear and systematic basis for tracking changes over time.

The present study was made in an attempt to contribute something to this exploratory enterprise
of developing reliable indicators of TEK. In this report, we describe and justify a robust yet
practical methodology for collecting and analyzing data leading to the creation of a locally-
appropriate, globally-applicable indicator focused on trends of retention or loss of TEK over time.
The proposed index, which we call the VITEK (acronym for "Vitality Index of Traditional

Environmental Knowledge"); will be the first of its kind. It will focus on rating the vitality status
of TEK (i.e. inferable trends of retention or loss over time) within selected groups and allow for
relative comparisons of that status among groups at different scales of inclusiveness. Another
intended feature is to measure the vitality status of different semantic/behavioral domains within
the rubric of TEK in order to identify which types of knowledge are most vulnerable to change.

The report includes a comprehensive literature review and evaluation of methods that have been
used to measure different aspects of traditional knowledge as well as a synthesis of the major
findings from studies of TEK variation and change. Using this body of work as precedent, we then
formulate a protocol for making a quantitative assessment of the vitality of traditional knowledge
at the local level (i.e. community or group of related communities) and representing the trend
pattern in a statistical form for comparative purposes. We begin this report by summarizing
why TEK is valuable and worthy of protection and how the VITEK can contribute to this goal.

You can check out the web-pages at http://www.terralingua.org/projects/vitek/vitek.htm and
also access the report on the project.

Abha Mishra, United Nations Development Programme, New Delhi (Response 2)
Most well-known UNISDR document is “Indigenous Knowledge for Disaster Risk Reduction: Good
Practices and Lessons Learned from Experiences in the Asia-Pacific Region” which has captured
the traditional knowledge. It is unfortunate as we really more on scientific analysis, people’s
traditional knowledge tends to be viewed as not suitable but why should we always depend on
written language and not give credit to experience of oral history and skilled hands….

I am also attaching two thought provoking articles talking about Traditional knowledge in DRR in
Sikkim, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh specially the Bundelkhand area. To read the articles click
ftp://ftp.solutionexchange.net.in/public/drm/cr/res06111102.pdf (Size: 112 KB). And
ftp://ftp.solutionexchange.net.in/public/drm/cr/res06111103.pdf (Size: 112 KB).

In your group of stakeholders you could involve Anthropologist who study traditional society and
look at different aspects of their survival as well as living in harmony within a given environment

What I feel is that we need to undertake more action oriented research projects and look at the
traditional knowledge over a span of period and review then from a scientific angle.

For dissemination we need to involve all types of media both print and audio-visual which is
traditional as well as modern.

H.S.Sharma, Sobha Sariya Engineering College, Sikar, Rajasthan, India*
In the Tsunami which hit regions, you may be surprised to know and note that not a single ONGE
(tribal people of Andaman & Nicobar Islands) was killed because they had the traditional
knowledge that when the sea is extraordinarily quit, run away, passed on to them by their group.

Satheesh KK Sridharan, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India*
The age old traditional practices and knowledge within the communities certainly help them to be
a part of, modern and scientific methods of DRR, but unfortunately we can't
clearly differentiate the Myths that are very prevalent in the communities vs. the real good
(potential) knowledge and practices.

I totally agree with Abha Mishra that involvement of Anthropologist is need of the hour to clearly
understand the traditional knowledge and the myths as there is a thin line which differentiate
both.

Anthony Chettri, Caritas India, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, India*
I am also of the opinion that the Indigenous knowledge (IK) or local wisdom to face the changes
happening due to climate change and continuous affect of disaster on the livelihood of the people
needs to be well studied and documented. This will help us to really work on it for better
scientific/environmental viability for better scaling up and replication.

Caritas India, the organization where I work, has been working on DRR for long time. We have
not yet made any framework for capturing such practices but would be glad to work on that.

My personal suggestion is that can we form a small network, all over India at least with the
people who are interested, and brain storm to make a proper frame work to collect such IK and
come together with experts to see it from scientific lens. The members of network can collect
information from their target field and document it either through video or case study....

We need to work in a team for that so that we can have data from all over India to make a
comprehensive data base to refer and then collectively initiate advocacy in policy change.

Jyotiraj Patra, Concern Worldwide India, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India*
While a rich repertoire of traditional knowledge system exists, the primary challenge
of ‘knowledge integration’ further reinforces the dichotomy between traditional
knowledge systems (TKS) and the modern techno-scientific knowledge systems.
Further, this is more pronounced in the realm of DRR and CCA which mostly deal with
uncertainties and surprises associated with a changing global climate. The query’s emphasis on
‘knowledge in to action’ rightly captures this.

The People’s Biodiversity Registers Program (PBR) in India has been successful in not only
collecting and documenting a variety of traditional knowledge but has also strengthened its
systematic integration in to the global scientific knowledge domain (Gadgil, M., P. R. Seshagiri
Rao, G. Utkarsh, P. Pramod, and A. Chhatre. 2000. New meanings for old knowledge: the
people's biodiversity registers program. Ecological Applications 10:1307–1317). Commonalities
exist between the PBR approach and some of the Participatory Risk Analysis (PRA) processes like
Hazard Vulnerabilities and Capacity Assessment (HVCA) and Climate Risk and Vulnerability
Assessment (CRVA) based on which the community-level disaster preparedness plans are
designed.

While CRiSTAL (Community-based Risk Screening Tool-Adaptation and Livelihood) is a
screening tool designed to help integrate risk reduction and climate change adaptation into
community-level projects, the tool could be effectively used to capture and integrate traditional
knowledge for climate adaptation and risk reduction planning (http://www.iisd.org/cristaltool/).

Participatory GIS (P-GIS) has been effective in incorporating traditional knowledge in to a
GIS platform and thereby facilitating the subsequent integration of this knowledge system in to
policy planning and decision making on critical issues of CCA and DRR.

Many thanks to all who contributed to this query!

If you have further information to share on this topic, please send it to Solution Exchange for the
Climate Change Community in India at se-clmt@solutionexchange-un.net.in with the subject
heading “Re: [se-clmt] Query: Translating Traditional DRR & CCA Knowledge into Action -
Referrals; Advice. Additional Reply.”

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