This document outlines Oxfam's perspective on integrating disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. It discusses the relationship between the two areas and notes that while some disasters are unrelated to climate change, climate-related disasters are a major cause of poverty. The document then provides details on a project in India that aims to build community resilience through participatory disaster risk management. It describes the project approach, situation analysis, model finalization process, and efforts to integrate an understanding of climate change impacts and coping strategies based on a study of changes in climate patterns, effects on livelihoods, and community demands.

1. Roadmap
Oxfam India & GDS
DRR and Climate Change
An Oxfam Perspective

2. Oxfam DRR and Climate Change process
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3. Relationship between climate change adaptation and
DRR –
• Oxfam is increasingly seeing the effects of climate change on the
communities with which we work. We are beginning to respond
to this in our work with communities and in our campaigns and
advocacy. At the same time, we are building rapidly on our
disaster risk reduction (DRR) programming as a key way of
reducing the loss of lives and livelihoods in disaster-prone areas.
• However, DRR programmes may have nothing to do with climate
change (if the disasters in question are earthquakes and
tsunamis), or the disasters may be recurring even in the absence
of climate change, and so DRR is an appropriate response for
Oxfam whether or not climate change is exacerbating these.
• We simply do not know enough about all the atmospheric and oceanic
processes to get a truly accurate scenario of how climate will react on
a local and regional scale. However in recent years we have
considerable evidence that the earth has begun to warm more quickly
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4. Broad scope for Oxfam intervention
Non climate-related Climate-related Non-disaster related
Disasters disasters climatic impacts
E.g., earthquakes E.g., floods, droughts, E.g., temperature,
hurricanes, cyclones unpredictable
storm surges rainfall, sea level rise,
saline intrusion
However, as climate-related disasters are a major cause of poverty
and suffering in almost all of the communities with which Oxfam
works, more and more DRR programmes will integrate adaptation
into their work with communities and in their advocacy.
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5. • Oxfam is still in the process of analyzing how Climate Change is
affecting the implementation of Oxfam-supported projects in the
India (coastal, flood plain)).
• If so, to reduce the impacts of climate change, Oxfam needs to
incorporate adequate measures into its project design. Design
adaptability, engagement on coping issues in 20 years
Climate date that will affect our programmes
• Temperature increase 0.5 - 2 °C by 2030 and 1 - 7 °C by 2070
• Increase in the frequency and intensity in rainfall (South Asia,
South East Asia)
• Increase in global sea-level rise 3 -16 cm by 2030 and 7-50 cm by
2070
• Increasing reduction in snow and ice in Himalayan and Tibetan
glaciers
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6. Impact on programmes
• Impact on agriculture – shift in seasons and agro-ecological
zones, water stress (drought and floods) and decline in water-
table, reduced soil fertility and increasing salinity, loss of
agricultural land due to sea water inundation, reduced crop and
grass yields, and loss of livestock (food insecurity)
• Contamination of ground Water;
• Impact on coastal zones - sea water inundation and loss of land
area, storm surge and coastal erosion, impact on aquaculture,
coastal agriculture and reduction in fresh water availability
• Increase conflict due to land use pressure, and resource use and
migration (in direct affect)
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7. The Project intervention (Design of DRR):
• Project was not pre-designed, it has evolved with
finding solutions and trials with community.
• The project approach has been „community based
disaster risk management‟.
• The focus has been on-
• To enable & capacitate the community;
• To evolve community based coping mechanism;
GDS believes in the principle that “sufferer is the first
responder”
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8. Situation/Problem Analysis:
The poor and the women are the most
vulnerable- the extent of vulnerability as well
as coping capacity directly proportional to the
socio-economic and gender status of the
people.
 Agriculture is the main source of livelihood;
 Majority of farmers are small and marginal.
 Flood destroys not only the Kharif (monsoon season) crop but also delays the next Rabi
(winter season) crop due to water locking and water logging.
 People‟s interest and investment in agriculture declining.
 Seasonal male migration is rampant
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9. Situation/Problem Analysis:
 During floods gender discrimination is clearly visible
 Women particularly the elderly eat and drink less to avoid
going to toilet
 Drinking water sources get submerged;
 Conditions highly favourable for outbreak of epidemics;
 People have accepted floods as destiny and resigned to their
fate;
 Dependency on relief assistance
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10. The Model Finalization process:
• Initiated with problem identification, analysis and prioritization.
• Micro planning process initiated in villages with community
participation.
• Interventions designed for flood mitigation were based on
specific problems identified during micro planning process.
• Continuous process of participatory reviewing and deriving
learning carried out- leading to timely refinement/fine-tuning in
the implementation design
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11. Integration of Climate Change with D ExperienceRM – GDS
• Monsoons in the year 2007 broke all norms and trends- heavy
rains in early July caused massive floods almost six weeks
before the „normal‟ time for floods
• While most components of the DRM model stood to the test, the
agriculture safeguarding component (pre-flood paddy) was
knocked completely off the course!
• It forced us to give serious consideration to the phenomenon of
„Climate Change‟ and to look out for ways to make our DRM and
livelihoods interventions effective.
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12. DRR & CC in Grameen Development Services
Integration of Climate Change with DRM
• Towards integrating the „climate change‟ dimension, we have
undertaken a study to comprehend the issues and nuances
related to climate change
• The focus has been on the effects of climate change on
livelihoods (especially, agriculture)
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13. Study on Climate Change Phenomenon
• The study has looked into the following aspects
• Changes in climatic pattern
• Impact on life and livelihoods
• Coping Strategies
• Demands
• The method comprises of
• FGDs and key informant interviews with community to
understand their perspective on the issue
• Taking inputs from scientists and subject matter experts
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14. Changes in climate trends
1. Rainfall:
 Late arrival and early end
 Change in intensity and timing- becoming increasingly
erratic
 Decline in winter rains
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15. Changes in climate trends
2. Seasons
• Change in duration of the seasons
• Summer are very hot and dry
• Winter are concentrated and short
• Fogs lasts throughout the day
• Weak Pachuva and strong Purva
• Absence of “loo”
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16. Changes in climate trends
4. Floods
• Change in the period of arrival
• Persistent water-logging
• Increase in intensity
• Irregular pattern
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17. Impact
1. Agriculture:
• Damage to crops
• Disturbance in crop-cycle
• Need for multiple-irrigation, even during kharif
• Rise in insect/pest infestation
• Rise in weeds like khod jawaya, gilli danda and ban mutter
• Fall in size of grains
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18. Impact on Economy
• Increase in cost of agriculture inputs; decline in production and
productivity
• Decline in livestock based livelihoods
• Large scale migration
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19. Emerging coping strategies
• Use of high yielding varieties
• Balanced use of fertilizers and pesticides
• Creation co-operatives with the help of NGOs
• Nursery cropping
• Change in cropping pattern and sowing time
• Growing bamboo terraces
• Emphasis on jayad cropping
• Preference to mixed cropping
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20. Emerging demands
• Better varieties
• short-duration
• heat and water tolerant
• high yielding
• More facilities to undertake jayad cropping
• Knowledge of better practices in cropping
• Micro-insurance for crop damage
• Improved flood control programmes
• Education on climate-change
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21. Thank you
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