Expert column

By Rowena Hay MD Umvoto Africa (www.umvoto.com)

Vulnerability and exposure to disasters is increasing as more people and assets locate in areas of high risk. Since 1970, the world’s population has grown by 87%. During this time, the proportion of people living in flood-prone river basins increased by 114 % and on cyclone-exposed coastlines, by 192 %. More than half of the world’s large cities, with populations ranging from 2 to 15 million, are located in areas of high earthquake risk. Rapid urbanization will increase exposure to natural hazards, especially in coastal zones, according to the UN System Task Team on the post-2015 development agenda.

While many of the better-managed metropolitan areas are actively planning for the impact of climate change, the rural areas of South Africa – as in many other respects – are not on the same footing. However, because their livelihoods are directly bound to the earth, they are in fact already feeling the impact of climate change – of which many urban dwellers remain unaware. For these rural areas, disaster events have a significant impact on, or in some cases could completely destroy, development gains built up over decades. Hurricane Ivan (2004) cost Grenada over 200% of its GDP. In larger economies, such as Bangladesh or Mozambique, the loss of 3-5% of GDP, due to disasters every five to ten years, has a cumulative impact on development.

Umvoto Africa, on behalf of the Water Research Commission, has been examining rural attitudes towards climate change and how communities can increase their resilience.

Our work to date has focused on a pilot project at Tsengiwe village in the Eastern Cape near Cala (four hours’ drive from East London). Right from the first engagement with the community, it was striking to note the local recognition of the problem– that the climate is changing. Most visible to locals is a major shift in the seasonality of events, with serious implications for cropping and livelihoods. Climate change can be seen, for example, in a shift from summer-dominated rainfall to more autumnal rains; this is often associated with episodic downpours.  The shift of the wet growing season has placed demands on summer crop selection and created an agricultural drought condition.

Greater temperature variation means that medicinal plants are lost, frost damage affects edible plants, high temperatures affect healthy food sources, and wind during the autumn means that vegetation uses more water.  The situation is exacerbated by poor infrastructure and unreliable or insufficient municipal services.

In our meetings with the community the approach chosen was to undertake a formal risk assessment, using a participatory rural approach. Thissupports looking at the natural social and economic situation as an interdependent system, with the integration of local knowledge with specialist input.

This has gone well beyond participation in information-giving, where people do not have the opportunity to influence proceedings, or participation by consultation, where decision-making is not shared. The process was designed to support self-mobilization of the community to initiate and maintain risk reduction initiatives.The major benefits of public participation are improved quality of decision-making, greater credibility and public support, improved implementation and monitoring and the early warning of potential challenges.

Training the youth has been an important component of the project: Thirteen young people have been instructed in monitoring and evaluation (measuring positive or negative change; assessing whether the community has achieved a certain level of resilience over time; and identifying lessons learned and best practises and barriers to success). Two villagers have also been trained in hydro-census work – how to follow the quality management systems procedure to fill out hydro-census forms correctly and record data in a report.

Local municipality service delivery will also be monitored.  This is extremely pertinent at a time when numerous communities are complaining about water service delivery issues that include lack of water access, poor water quality, high tariffs, inaccurate bills and apparent apathy by local municipalities. On the other hand, municipalities express frustrations over wasteful use of water, infrastructure theft and limited budgets.

Umvoto also held a participatory mapping exercise, based on a GIS map that staff had created. The community mapped resources and land uses that they felt were important for their development plans. These included communal land, water sources and infrastructure and major agricultural projects, as well as vulnerable areas with large dongas, areas overridden with alien vegetation, flooding zones and major soil erosion.

There are now five development plans based on water supply and reticulation, agriculture and crop cultivation, animal grazing management, soil erosion and school greening. These serve as a road map to guide the community and local mentors through procedure and process.

Development projects that could be implemented by the community include land care and rehabilitation, linked to government programmes, accessing groundwater supplies, building a small dam for stock watering and to supply food gardens, catchment rehabilitation and the selection of new crops with a short growing season to suit changing climate conditions.

Our experience in rural areas is that many residents are dealing with feelings of disillusionment and powerlessness.  Awareness of constitutional rights raises expectations, which in turn leads to disappointment when these are not fulfilled.  The most constructive way forward appears to be self-empowerment through knowledge, and information about how to access the support that is in place. Villagers can then initiate their own actions and know how to better enforce their rights.

The message is to work with what is available; have long-term goals; and interface constructively with official channels and processes and motivate for active benefit from existing government programmes.

Thus risk management promotes self-mobilization and active participation, leading to empowerment (especially of women). It can contribute towards secure sustainable service delivery and operations and maintenance in the water services sector.

Climate and weather-related evidence shows that the impact of disasters caused by natural hazards and vulnerability will continue to intensify, presenting an increasingly significant challenge to development. Disaster risk reduction and resilience therefore requires more central consideration if the objectives of sustainable development, especially in rural areas, are to be achieved.