scholarly journals Gender in the context of Disaster Risk Reduction; A Case Study of a Flood Risk Reduction Project in the Gampaha District in Sri Lanka

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 873-881 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kushani De Silva ◽  
Ramanie Jayathilaka
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Disaster Risk Reduction ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Flood Risk Reduction

Transdisciplinary ecosystem-based approaches to flood risk reduction supported by traditional ecological knowledge in Mikatagoko Lakes, Japan

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takehito Yoshida
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Traditional Ecological Knowledge ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Disaster Risk Reduction ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Ecological Knowledge ◽  
Local Stakeholders ◽  
Flood Risk Reduction

<p>Rainfall-induced floods and landslides have occurred and caused devastating impacts in recent years in Japan, and adaptation to natural disaster risks is a key to the sustainability of local communities. Traditional ecological knowledge in Japanese communities exists abundantly, such as those in disaster risk reduction and natural resource use, and it has been passed down from generation to generation. These traditional knowledge and skills have been used to benefit from nature’s gifts or ecosystem services as well as to avoid devastating impacts from natural disasters. Collaboration and cooperation by diverse stakeholders are crucial for recognizing and utilizing traditional ecological knowledge in actual solutions and actions. In this presentation, I introduce how traditional ecological knowledge has been used in disaster risk reduction in Mikatagoko Lakes area located in Fukui Prefecture, Japan. Rainfall-induced floods occur frequently in this area, but traditional land use helps to reduce inundation damage of houses and conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services including local food culture. Embankment built around the lakes has been renovated not only for flood risk reduction but also for biodiversity conservation, also supported by traditional ecological knowledge in this area. The Mikatagoko nature restoration committee, in which diverse local stakeholders participate and collaborate, has played a significant role in these actions and solutions. Our experiences suggest that transdisciplinary ecosystem-based approaches contribute to the sustainability of local communities and the collaborative platform among local stakeholders is important in taking advantage of traditional ecological knowledge in actual solutions and actions.</p>

scholarly journals IMPACT OF INTEGRATING DISASTER RISK REDUCTION PHILOSOPHIES INTO INFRASTRUCTURE RECONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN SRI LANKA

2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 685-700
Author(s):  
Roshani Palliyaguru ◽  
Dilanthi Amaratunga ◽  
Richard Haigh
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Emergency Preparedness ◽  
Disaster Risk Reduction ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Vulnerability Reduction ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Important Solution

Major impacts on infrastructures due to natural and man-made hazards could result in secondary and additional impacts, compounding the problem for those communities already affected by the hazard. Integration of disaster risk reduction (DRR) philosophies into infrastructure projects has been an important solution to mitigate and prevent such disaster risks, as well as for a speedy recovery after disasters. “Vulnerability reduction” is defined by the research community as an enabler which facilitates the process of DRR. However, there is a research need to identify the most beneficial DRR strategies that would result in vulnerability reduction in an effective way. As part of this main aim, this paper seeks to explore the nature of various vulnerabilities within infrastructure reconstruction projects and their respective communities and to evaluate the DRR practises within these projects. Finally the paper attempts to map the effects of integration of DRR into infrastructure reconstruction on vulnerability reduction of infrastructure reconstruction projects and the communities which benefited from such projects. This study adopts the case study approach and the paper is entirely based on data collated from semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey conducted within one case study (a water supply and sanitation reconstruction project) in Sri Lanka and expert interviews conducted in Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom. Results reveal that emergency preparedness strategies are the most important group of DRR strategies, while physical/technical strategies are also very important. However, none of the emergency preparedness strategies are satisfactorily implemented, while most of the physical/technical strategies are adequately implemented.

Flood risk assessment for Ecuador 

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melisa Mena-Benavides ◽  
Manuel Urrutia ◽  
Konstantin Scheffczyk ◽  
Angel A. Valdiviezo-Ajila ◽  
Jhoyzett Mendoza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Disaster Risk Reduction ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Flood Frequency ◽  
Flood Risk Assessment ◽  
Essential Information ◽  
Synthetic Aperture Radar Data ◽  
Ecological Regions

<p>Understanding disaster risk is the first priority for action of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) and is the essential information needed to guide disaster governance and achieve disaster risk reduction. Flooding is a natural hazard that causes the highest number of affected people due to disasters. In Ecuador from 1970 to 2019 flooding caused the highest amount of loss and damage to housing, and from 2016 to 2019 there were 1263 flood events reported. However, the differentiated impacts in flood exposed areas and what can be done to reduce risk and its impacts are still not well understood. In this research, we explored the different dimensions of flood risk, namely hazard, exposure, and vulnerability, and investigated the drivers of risk in different ecological regions of Ecuador. The assessment was conducted at the parish level, the smallest administrative scale, for three selected provinces of Bolivar, Los Ríos, and Napo, representing not only the country’s three main ecological regions but also commonly affected territories due to flooding. Using an automated flood detection procedure based on Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar data, flood hazard information was derived from flood frequency and flood depth for the years 2017, 2018, and 2019. The drivers of exposure and vulnerability were derived from scientific literature and further evaluated and complemented during a participatory workshop with over 50 local experts from the different regions. Centered on this exercise, an indicator library was created to inform the data selection from various sources and provides the basis for deriving a spatially explicit flood risk assessment using an indicator-based approach. Impact data are available to validate the risk assessment at the parish level and with this reveal key drivers of flood risk in different ecological regions of Ecuador. This information will provide the basis to derive targeted measures for disaster risk reduction.</p>

From co-production of knowledge to a participatory governance concept: a research design focusing on knowledge practices in flood risk management and disaster risk reduction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ida Wallin
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Disaster Risk Reduction ◽  
Disaster Risk ◽  
Flood Risk Management ◽  
Participatory Governance ◽  
Production Of Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Practices

<p>Knowledge has been shown to be more effectively implemented in practice when produced in collaboration between researchers and other stakeholders as the co-produced knowledge is more likely to be accepted and found relevant. Knowledge co-production processes have however been found guilty of depoliticizing and hiding political struggles to the end of reinforcing existing unequal power relations and prevent broad societal transformation from taking place. From this perspective, knowledge co-production can come into conflict with participatory governance that focuses on the empowerment and capacity building of actors, social justice and advocacy. In this presentation I take a closer look at this conflictual perspective and propose a research focus on knowledge practices for exploring and analyzing participatory governance options for flood risk management (FRM) and disaster risk reduction (DRR). I do this by exemplifying and presenting a research design developed within the newly started PARADeS-project.</p><p>The PARADeS-project is a research project led by German research institutions in close collaboration with partners in Ghana and with the overall aim to contribute to enhancing Ghana’s national flood risk and disaster management strategy. Co-production of knowledge is foreseen to take place in several workshops including collaborative modelling, scenario- and policy back-casting exercises. One of the planned project outputs is a concept of participatory governance in FRM and DRR based on the findings from a stakeholder analysis, a policy network analysis and a participatory assessment of different policy options.</p><p>In this project context a research focus on stakeholders’ knowledge practices can be used to inform and improve the participatory governance concept and facilitate its implementation process. Knowledge is used by stakeholders as a powerful resource in suggesting certain policy options and convincing others of their necessity. Knowledge practices entail how actors use knowledge to argue, convince and make decisions. Through knowledge practices, stakeholders decide what knowledge to base decisions on and how to convince others of their position using that knowledge. What knowledge becomes accepted as legitimate in such interactions - often deliberative settings - can be decisive for the acceptability of any policy option. It is therefore important to study not only the different types of stakeholders and technical options for FRM and DRR, but the interaction between stakeholders and how they use information and co-create knowledge - the knowledge practices.</p><p>Within the presentation I discuss the proposed research design for how to study knowledge practices and how to make use of these findings when going from research project and co-production of knowledge to a concept of participatory governance in flood risk management and disaster risk reduction in Ghana.</p>

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