IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature

Relevant IUCN regional offices and thematic programmes have already been confronted with the urgent realities of post-disaster assessments and providing guidance to governments or IUCN members on community resilience, the role of ecosystems in disaster risk reduction and long-term recovery guidance.

Climate change and increasing numbers of “natural” and man-made disasters are forcing quicker organizational change, improved preparedness and more systematic responses: prevention is preferable to post-disaster recovery. Very recently, IUCN Asia was requested by UNEP to provide guidance on how to make the Chinese post-earthquake phase “more environmental”.

Post-disaster response has often created more environmental problems than the extreme event itself, for example, locating transitional camps in sensitive ecological areas or inappropriate waste management practices. In addition, disaster prevention and climate change mitigation actions often lack an ecosystem perspective.

The challenge for IUCN is how to guide its members, decision-makers, donors and NGOs worldwide on the most effective ways to build resilience to climate change and reduce the impacts of disaster events. These are obviously issues of great concern to governments and donors worldwide.

“It is well-established that there is a tight link between natural disasters and poverty” (OECD 2004). The poor are disproportionately vulnerable to environmental hazards. Natural hazards such as droughts, floods, fires and earthquakes increase poverty and threaten poor people by imposing human and economic costs, including loss of life, injuries, disabilities and displacement, as well as damage to agriculture, livestock, and infrastructure. The destruction of assets can trap poor families into chronic poverty.

The human impact of disasters is greatest in developing countries. From 1994 to 2003, deaths per reported disaster were on average seven times higher in countries of low development than in highly developed countries.

Women and children often suffer most during and after disasters. In Bangladesh women suffered the most following the cyclone and flood of 1991. Among women aged 20-44, the death rate was 71 per 1000, compared to 15 per 1000 for men. Warning information was transmitted by men to men in public spaces, but rarely communicated to the rest of the family. Also, women were not allowed to leave their houses without a male relative, and many perished waiting for their relatives to return home and take them to a safe place. From: Climate Change and Disaster Mitigation: Gender Makes the Difference, Lorena Aguilar, IUCN Senior Gender Adviser. More

Poor people often live on marginal land such as steep slopes or flood-prone riverbanks, in poorly built houses and with limited access to services that can help in the aftermath of a disaster, such as saving or insurance. As such, mitigating and coping with the risk of a disaster is a pressing issue if we are to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Ecosystems provide - particularly to the poor - numerous services free of charge. Intact mangroves not only protect poor people living on coastal land to storms but they provide fuel wood on a daily basis. In addition, mangroves are important breeding places for fish, shellfish and contribute to shoreline stability. Forests in drylands areas contribute significantly to food security. They not only provide fuel wood for energy (70.8% of Sudan’s energy), fodder for livestock and add variety to diets but represent a significant source of food and income in times of drought. Many rural societies have developed extraordinary capacities to cope with environmental stress by making use of these ecosystem services. These efforts need to be strengthened by conservation and development organizations.

However, many of these ecosystems and their services are under threat. For instance, over the last 50 years, about one-third of the world’s mangrove forests have been lost due to overexploitation, conversion into large scale development such as shrimp farms or tourism infrastructure.

Reducing the vulnerability of the poor to hazards must focus on prevention and preparedness. Sustainable management of natural resources, infrastructure improvement, diverse livelihood options and low cost local initiatives (like agricultural cooperatives, food banks, environmental conservation and reforestation) can reduce vulnerability. In addition to risk mitigation, there is a need to extend insurance coverage to the poor, building on the experience of micro-credit schemes.