Friday pm

Almost five days down the line and its clear this is going to be a long drawn out process. One of the biggest differences with the Global Platform is that although many of the sessions are "open" to civil society they only have observer status and therefore can actually contriute towards the discussions.

Needless to say outside of the meetings there is an intense lobbying process going on - by the UN agencies and civil society to name a few , including the Climate Action Network who are a well organised, well estalished and highly motivated alliance of NGOs and civil society groups. I've been able to join the CAN climate adpatition working group as this a component of the climate change negotiaitons closely related to disaster risk reduction.

The good news is that disaster risk reduction will probably come out strongly in the final negotiating draft that will go forward barcelona and then Copenhagen. Current stumbling blocks include the precise definition of eligible developing countries to ensure adaptation support is accessible to those who face the unavoidable impact of climate change; whether adaptation funding is additonal to ODA; and what measures can be covered under climate adaptation, with OPEC countries arguing this includes the negative impact that mitigation measures will have on their economies.

As the new negotiating texts are released to the pulbic domain towards the end of the week we should start to get a better feel for what's in and out

Marcus

Tuesday pm

The more i get to understand this gathering the more i realise how incredibly complex these negotiations are. The current text is about 150 pages and we heard from one of the main negotiating parties today that ideally this should be distilled down into about 20 pages divided into three main sections

• Guiding principles
• WHAT these principles might look like in practical terms of building adaptive capacties
• How the WHAT can be delivered

So the issue of guiding principles becomes very important. Things like targeting most vulnerable; subsidarity / decentalisation; accountability / transparancy; etc

The CAN network is very active in all of this and i believe the DRR experience in executing DRR policies has direct relevance to helping craft a policy framework that can be most effectively implemented.

I'll keep you informed of develoments

Marcus

Moring all,

Just arrived at the UNFCC Bangkok intersessional - has a similar feel to the Global Platform. These are my top five issues going into the discussions:-

1.      Prioritise / target most vulnerable communities in high-risk countries

2.      Direct access to resources for local partnerships (government – community – civil society) – partnership approach

3.      Comprehensive approach towards addressing underlying causes of vulnerability (poverty, climate change, disaster risk)

4.      Climate Vulnerability Capacity Assessments as strategic entry point

5.      Independent and transparent local level monitoring process with strong representation from civil society and community

I let you know how the week progresses through this blog. There are a few DRR people here but we're a  bit thin on the ground

Marcus

Thanks for GNDRR for this important initiative!

I was wondering how severe is this problem to South Asia, which is already be known as a disaster hotspot. The region is considered to be harboring a large amount of poor; which is approximately 42 % of the total population. According to the MDG report 2006; South Asia has one of the highest urban slum populations. These figures show how vulnerable the region is for various calamities. This has also been well evident from the contemporary regional statistics on disaster affected and losses. So, I think the impact of Climate change to a region which is already known to be a disaster hotspot is yet to be assessed and brought forward.

Adaptation is a fancy word rather a feasible choice to most of the disaster hit vulnerable communities who have been trying to cope up with the changing climate and unprecedented burdens to their lives and livelihoods. Anyway; I was glad to see three priorities selected and I am fully supporting those.

Agreed; innovative financing mechanisms are vital in this context. I believe there should be various approach for financing. a couple of those may be…

• As every one argues; increase the share of Adaptation funding for disaster prone or developing countries and
• Incorporate adaptation funding into already existing funding lines – e.g.More than 95 % of the development in South Asia is known to be funded by multi lateral funding come as loans. So it would be really important to see how Climate change adaptation funding could be incorporated into these financing mechanisms as grants

Anyway; it is important to rethink and reinforce our DRR strategies too. Eventually, we all committed to seek possiblities for increasing the resilience of the communities.

Buddika

Practical Action -Colombo

I start by appreciating the efforts exerted in this direction. I am recalling from the Jordanian National Assessment that there is a great gap exisitng between the central institution handing DRR and the country peripheral. This emphasis the fact that equal attention and invovlement of people in rural areas away from the central decision making should be targeted by awareness  raising and their capacity  be enhance  and  participate in national efforts related to DRR especially on its link to CC. in addition, maintsreaming the issue of CC in all the line institutions is not the case. Efforts are remaining to be in isolated islands with the absence of a direct responsible institution in charge of DRR in the country. National efforts should be continuous and not based on occasional actions connected with imposed momentary decisions. Efforts should be round the clock in relation to CC and DRR assuming the worst is happening the next day. Efforcement of legislations is another factor. Moreover, a strategy characterized of  being with clear actions each individual can do with no cost should be proposed provided that countries need financial and technical support. 

Ziyad Alawneh 

Jordan. NCO

Great work from the GNDRR! A few suggestions from Plan:

We think it is essential to stress the importance of including all stakeholder groups in community based approaches, local partnerships and adaptation funding; particularly children & young people.

At the 2009 Global Platform ISDR formally recognised children as strong agents for change (see paragraph 11 in the Final Chair's Summary). The COP and all related UNFCCC and national processes must also reflect this recognition and commitment. Thus we suggest the following:

1. Give priority to addressing underlying drivers of vulnerability

- Children’s contribution to this is valuable and effective, particularly in terms of communicating information about risk and driving change in their communities, and promoting climate smart development now and for future generations.

- Education is a cost-effective form of climate insurance: investment in children’s education, including about how to adapt to climate change, is an investment for future generations and development

2. Adopt participatory community-based approaches (supported by decentralised governance processes) as primary strategy to reduce vulnerability and build adaptive capacities

- All participatory community-based approach should actively involve children in knowledge sharing and dialogue/consultation as part of decision making .

3. Innovative funding strategies to encourage local partnerships and provide direct access to resources at the local-, community-level

- Local partnerships in decision-making and programmes for adaptation funding, should include all local stakeholders – including children, who offer both valuable insight and enthusiasm for progressive change. Children are an effective and valuable human resource: they are actors beyond beneficiary targets.

While children are particularly vulnerable and do rely on adults for protection and support - "they are not passive bystanders and should never be treated as helpless victims." Children are at the centre of all intergenerational justice, security and development aspects of climate change.

Many thanks –

Your friends & colleagues @ Plan

Thank you for the three selected key issues for the deal on Climate change. At least for me all the n three are very relevant.  But one more thing to suggest is the focus or attention given to increasing hazards and disasters during the rapidly increasing trends of CC impacts and the funding gaps for response as well as preparedness and how that can be linked to the issues of CC adaptation.  The humanitarian cost is getting high and high specially in developing countries where we have complex interplay of poverty, disasters, poor governance and weak institutional capacity.

Many thanks

Nazereth Fikru

Oxfam America, Horn of Africa regional office

Regional Humanitarian Coordinator

Dear Global Network members,

Based on the five recommendations highlighted which were drawn from experience gained in implementing DRR at the local level i have selected what i feel are three important issues that should be incoporated into the climate change negotiating text for subsequent agreement in Copenhagen in December.

1. Give priority to addressing underlying drivers of vulnerability
2. Adopt partcipatory community-based approaches (supported by decentrlaised governance processes) as primary strategy to reduce vulnerablity and build adaptive capacities
3. Innovative funding strategties to encourage local partnerships and provide direct access to resources at the local-, community-level

Let's see if we can build consensus on what we feel are the three top issues and then use these to lobby /  convince the climate negotiators likewise

Marcus