DRR-CCA Thought Leadership Course - Synergizing Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation
Bonn - Germany, 27 April 2023
The unprecedented level of warming that is driving increasingly frequent and intense climate-related events calls for the design and implementation of urgent actions. However, the complexity of the climate emergency, and rapidly altering risk profiles of countries, necessitates synergies across multiple fields and sectors.
The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the UN System Staff College (UNSSC) are collaborating to develop a Thought Leadership Course that aims to outline the need for and importance of promoting and pursuing synergies between disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA), as a key means to ensure risk-informed sustainable development.
This course aims to emphasize and encourage efforts by governments and key partners, particularly leaders and decisionmakers, to generate behavioral change to integrate DRR-CCA approaches.
Experience in the Pacific region has already shown the benefits of this integrated approach. This is boosted in parallel by the considerable efforts being made in the areas of early warning systems, nature-based solutions and resilient infrastructure.
As an iteration to enhance the development of the Leadership Course, the UNDRR and UNSSC organized a one-day feedback workshop to solicit the views of experts and provide inputs and ideas that will support the development of learning scenarios for the course. The highly interactive hybrid event was held on the Bonn UN campus on 27 April 2023 and was attended by representatives of Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Environment Programme (UNEP), UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat, and UN University - Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS).
Feedback was also received from the Risk-informed Early Action Partnership (REAP) where the module supports the achievement of its first target on integrated DRR and CCA plans and policies. The module is also a key deliverable of the plan of action of the Technical Expert Group on Comprehensive Risk Management of the Executive Committee (Excom) of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage (WIM).
At the outset, participants were able to express their unique vantage points and experiences relating to integrative approaches in a creative manner. This helped translating various perspectives towards the enhancement of the content and flow of the course.
Keeping in mind the target audience of this tool, Rajeev Issar from UNDP recalls that it is extremely important to “Keep it simple and just do it. Easy wins are great accelerators to advancing DRR-CCA action for development dividends.” The course is designed to be inspiring and to introduce to or remind learners of the embryonic elements and the clear direct benefits of an integrated approach at the national and sub-national levels.
A well-supported message from the participants is that synergies in DRR and CCA support countries’ ability to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development across different time scales. It is also a reminder that people are at the center of the process. In the words of Hanna Maier of GIZ, “Comprehensive risk management is more effective and saves resources by combining efforts. It is a more people-centered approach. It looks at what people need, and is not about whether we work as DRR or CCA.”
The Leadership Course - Synergizing DRR and CCA – is conceived as an advocacy and knowledge tool and is based on evidence and examples that takes the learner through a journey presenting the advantages, challenges and opportunities of integrating DRR and CCA planning processes. In terms of achieving the SDGs, "the integration of DRR and CCA is about bringing dividends through risk management to the sustainable development spectrum", Rajeev Issar (UNDP) said.
Participants, under the guidance of UNSSC, co-created scenarios that will be a key component of the course. Floods, droughts and a complex disaster scenario were used to illustrate the interaction between different processes underlying DRR and CCA planning and implementation, highlighting the systemic nature of risks, while focusing on the integration and benefits of risk reduction and adaptation.
“With this leadership module, decision-makers and shapers can internalize the opportunities offered by greater synergies between DRR and CCA, and co-benefit at the national and sub-national levels. Maximizing available financing is the key,” said Animesh Kumar, Head of UNDRR Office in Bonn.
The course will be launched soon and available to the public free of charge at the UNSSC website. It will be widely disseminated as a self-study resource that can be applied to different contexts and also complement existing capacity-building activities
The UNDRR initiated this course to complement its ongoing comprehensive disaster and climate risk management approach to national and local planning. Furthermore, it responds to the gaps and recommendations identified in the Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, taking place concurrently with the first Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement. It is therefore anticipated that this will be a tool in the arsenal of leaders and other stakeholders in this changing risk landscape.