Disaster Preparedness and Building Livelihood Resilience
Full Solution
Mostafa Khan checking his ready to harvest salt-tolerant paddy.
Bimal K. Chand
Sea level rise has led to coastal erosion reducing the island of Mousuni while population increases. Salinity due to brackish water floods makes impossible cultivation for two years, and the use of high yielding paddy varieties. Community development capacity and re-introduction of traditional but salt tolerant paddy varieties and resistant fish and prawn species reached disaster preparedness, increases the resilience of the community, and secures livelihood.
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Context
Challenges addressed
Embankment breaches due to accelerated coastline erosion lead to the brackish water flooding of paddy fields, water bodies and homestead. Since 1969 the island lost 1/6 of its surface while population tripled. People are not prepared for disasters and lack skills for alternative options to secure livelihood like adapted paddy and aquaculture. Women’s involvement in project activities is limited.
Beneficiaries
Paddy and aquaculture farmers, 450 households as well as women and the Mousuni Islands society.
Location
Mousuni Island, India
South Asia
Process
Summary of the process
The three building blocks leading to disaster preparedness take place in parallel to two building blocks aiming at livelihood resilience. Both processes are linked via the adaptation centre that acts as a catalyst for dialogue and exchange between all stakeholders. Its major function is to provide access for all members of the community and institutions involved at all levels to data, information, experience and lessons learned.
Continuous dialogue between all stakeholders boosted by the establishment of task force teams ensures participation and engagement in all steps of the solution. It builds trust and confidence between partners and helps to develop sustainable and feasible options for increasing livelihood resilience.
Systematisation exercise is the approach to monitor and evaluate advances in building up the community’s capacity in disaster preparedness and resilience to disasters, as well as reducing the vulnerability of the project area.
Building Blocks
Vulnerability Assessment
This assessment helps to identify the physical and socio-economic vulnerabilities of the island’s communities. Topographic surveys identify low-lying areas that are particularly prone to coastal flooding and feed into a Geographical Information System (GIS). According to these baseline data, data on soil and salinity is collected at representative sample sites to identify appropriate salt-tolerant paddy varieties, fish and prawn species.
Enabling factors
Successful construction depends on results from:
• Support and technical expertise for surveys and geographical information system;
• Salt resistant indigenous paddy, and fish and shrimp varieties must have a market value to ensure income for the community.
Lesson learned
Disaster risks and preparedness of the community must take into account not only physical factors but also socio-economic and cultural factors. Vulnerability assessments provide the obligatory baseline data and information to effectively design and implement projects and activities at the most vulnerable locations. They provide the input to design projects with a socio-economically and culturally appropriate approach.
The adoption of a participatory approach for scheduling and implementation of data collection by project staff and scientists helps to establish a good relationship based on transparency, trust and dialogue with the target group, particularly farmers.
Awareness Campaigns
Tailor made awareness campaigns inform and sensitise the target community on climate change, its impacts and effects on livelihoods. These campaigns support the community to find ways how to better adapt and cope with natural disasters. The community engages in discussions and participates in the design of actions needed and thus to lay the groundwork of a joint project.
Enabling factors
Conditions for adoption elsewhere:
• A community depending on cultivation.
• Knowledge on natural disasters menacing the community.
• Data on the community’s socio-economic and natural resource conditions.
• Preparedness of the community to engage in a joint project and its activities.
• Support to initiate the process.
Lesson learned
It is important to ensure that women and any other marginalized groups have equal rights and access to information and are fully included in the awareness campaign. For a successful campaign it is also desirable that cohesion exists between community members irrespective of religion, caste or any other factor, thus warranting access to social capital.
Institutional Arrangements
Strong links with local government bodies ensure cooperation, dialogue and mutual support. Community level engagement together with local government bodies ensures bi-directional flow of information. Appropriate institutional mechanisms ascertain participation in the planning, implementation and monitoring of actions addressing disaster preparedness and the strengthening of the community’s resilience through appropriate projects.
Enabling factors
• Support from government for long term sustainability.
• Capacity development and access to information on climate change impacts and adaptation options for local government, communities and other partners, such as NGOs.
Lesson learned
Long term commitment and good relationships between government bodies and the community members are crucial to any activity and project planned to improve disaster preparedness and livelihood resilience. Without this achievement the sustainability of any activity may be at risk.
Disaster Preparedness Training
Capacity building of community members and the formation of disaster response teams enables people to better cope with disasters. The disaster response teams consist of young local volunteers who are trained through community-based disaster preparedness trainings (CBDP) and well equipped to act on relief and rescue operations before, during and after an emergency.
Enabling factors
• Support from government for long-term sustainability.
• Support for developing, implementing and follow-up of capacity building.
• Access to information for communities and task force teams.
Lesson learned
Farmer-to-farmer interactions significantly influence commitment and participation. This is a result of interactions made possible through the visit of experienced farmers from the eastern side of the Sundarbans with the target community on Mousuni Island on traditional salt tolerant paddy cultivation.
Climate Adaptation Centre
This centre provides broad information on climate change adaptation and serves as nodal point for disaster response teams. Data and experiences that are collected here are made accessible to all community members, task force teams and other agencies.
Enabling factors
• Support and engagement from the community for long-term sustainability.
• Women and other marginalized groups have equal access to information, skills and services.
Lesson learned
- not available -
Climate adaptive Livelihood Options
The introduction of salt-tolerant paddy and fish varieties provides new livelihood options. It is accompanied capacity building of farmers through training, visits of experts, exchange of experiences between community members. Cultivation progress and harvest of salt-tolerant species is continuously monitored.
Enabling factors
• Physical security is equally important as livelihood security.
• Households have control over critical livelihood resources.
• Women and marginalised groups have equal rights and access to critical livelihood resources, information, skills and services.
• Men and women work together to address the challenges.
• Participatory monitoring and evaluation for local government and community ownership.
Lesson learned
The introduction of salt-tolerant paddy and fish varieties provides new livelihood options. It is accompanied capacity building of farmers through training, visits of experts, exchange of experiences between community members. Cultivation progress and harvest of salt-tolerant species is continuously monitored.
Impacts
The solution has social, economic and environmental impacts. Community knowledge on climate change and how to adapt was enhanced and reinforced by four trained task force teams. Formal linkage with government relief mechanism is established. Resilience of participating farmers was enhanced. The practice is adopted by others. Income and food security are ensured despite brackish water inundation. The design of a chemical-free good cultivation practice reduces water and soil pollution. Cultivation of traditional salt tolerant crop varieties helps biodiversity conservation.
Story
"The condition of embankment is so bad that breach of embankment has become a regular phenomenon’, states Mostafa Khan, 56 years, from Ganga Pally, Baliara, Mousuni Island. “Agricultural lands as well as water bodies are flooded with brackish water, when breach occurs. Paddy cultivation is impossible as high yielding paddy varieties cannot be grown under these conditions. My agricultural plot is close to the river embankment and therefore a breach of the embankment is a nightmare. The project has provided me 10 grams of Lalgetu, a salt tolerant paddy variety, in 2011, from which I harvested 3 kg. Since then I am cultivating this variety in a very small plot of land. This year (2013) three farmers have used my Lalgetu seedlings. Unfortunately, brackish water has destroyed two-day old transplanted seedlings in two farmers’ field. I am fortunate of a harvest of 7 kg paddy from a small plot of land and confident that more farmers will be able to cultivate this variety next year. My fellow-farmers have cultivated other salt tolerant paddy varieties and harvested a good amount of crop. People of this island have understood the problem and started action.”
Gurupada Bera’s homestead is on the western side of the island and 300-350 meter from the river. He asserts that “Due to frequent breach of river embankment especially during rainy season, brackish water inundates my agricultural lands and ponds and I lost crops and fish often. I was briefed about scientific fish farming with duck rearing and horticulture on the pond dyke by fishery expert of the project. The project gave me brackish water fish species, duck and fruit saplings. Each month, the project staff tested soil and water quality, and monitored survival of fish."
To prevent escape of fish during flooding, a net fencing with woven plastic cloth of 1 m high was raised around the pond. Liming and partial feeding to fish were done. Ducks manure, help to aerate the pond water, better growth by chasing fish and cleaning the pond bottom as they eat insects and other benthic organisms. I did not have any incidence of fish disease, and all introduced brackish water fishes and prawn survive and grow well. On 15th September 2013, on spring tide, brackish water inundated my pond. I found most of the fresh water species dead, while the brackish water species introduced from the project remained unaffected."
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Other contributors
Bimal K. Chand
West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences (WBUAFS)
Anurag Danda
WWF India
