Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction into Sustainable National Water Resources Development Programmes

1. Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction into Sustainable National Water Resources Development Programmes D. Bashir and M. Garba National Water Resources Institute, Kaduna Presentation at the Conference of Chief Executives and Heads of Disaster Management Organizations in Nigeria, held at Rockview Hotel, Abuja on 21-22 August, 2007

2. Outline of Presentation • Introduction • Factors Affecting Disaster Impacts • Impacts of Climate Change • Disaster Risk Reduction • Vulnerability to Disasters • Vulnerability to Water Related Disasters • Challenges to Water Resources Management in Nigeria • National Approach to Reduction of WRM Related Disasters • Integrating DRR Concerns into IWRM • Framework for Mainstreaming DRR • Constraints to DRR Programs • Recommendations D. Bashir & M. Garba

3. Introduction • Disaster is a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society causing widespread human, material, economic and/or environmental losses which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources (UN-ISDR, 2002) D. Bashir & M. Garba

4. Introduction • DFID characterized disaster to include: • death toll; • traumatized population (through injury, homelessness, loss of livelihoods); • environmental and economic impacts that overwhelmed the coping capacity of the affected people) D. Bashir & M. Garba

5. Introduction • Disaster, as a result of water related hazards, impact on people in a variety of ways leading to jeopardizing human security and hampering socio-economic activities. D. Bashir & M. Garba

6. Factors Affecting Disaster Impacts • Impacts of disasters are exacerbated by a number of factors that include: • poor land-use planning, • population growth, • environmental mismanagement, • increasing levels of vulnerability, • poor planning, • poor governance, • climate change, • lack of regulatory mechanisms, & • corruption D. Bashir & M. Garba

7. Impacts of Climate Change • Water related hazards are likely to get worse in this century due to climate change • IPCC estimated the impact of global warming and predicted that: • "Drought-affected areas will likely increase in extent; • Heavy precipitation events, which are very likely to increase in frequency, will augment flood risk." D. Bashir & M. Garba

8. Relationship of physical flood risk and income Relationship of human damage risk and income Impacts of Climate Change • Using historical data (1960-2002), Wheeler (2007) constructed a weighted human risk measure to obtain an index of human flood damage risk in each country. • He also developed a physical flood risk index by dividing the total number of severe floods from 1960-2002 by population in 1980. • Using these indices and development status based on the World Bank's per-capita income categories he developed the relationship between dev. status and physical and human flood risks respectively D. Bashir & M. Garba

9. Concepts and Definitions • Disaster risk reduction (DRR) is the systematic development and application of policies, strategies and practices to minimize vulnerabilities and disaster risks throughout asociety, and to avoid (prevention) or to limit (mitigation and preparedness) the adverse impact ofhazards, within the broad context of sustainable development (UN-ISDR, 2002). • Sustainable water resources development implies water resources utilization with adequate conservation effort. D. Bashir & M. Garba

10. Disaster Risk Reduction • Disaster risk reduction (DRR) becoming prominent on the policy agenda of countries • The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have stressed the need for closer interaction between disaster risk reduction and sustainable development to speed up the attainment of poverty eradication and the creation of sustainable environment • Effectiveness of DRR strategy in water resources dev. Programs is dependant on integrated approach to disaster management • A sound DRR policy should aim at realizing the major objectives of sustainable development through reducing the burden of disasters on the environment, the poor and most vulnerable D. Bashir & M. Garba

11. Vulnerability to Disasters • Vulnerabilityresults from people’s exposureto hazard and their susceptibilityto hazard impacts • It reflects social, economic, political, psychological and environmental variables • It can also be defined as lack of capacity to anticipate, cope with, resist and recover from hazard impacts D. Bashir & M. Garba

12. Vulnerability to Water Related Disasters • Socio-economic conditions • Poverty, • Demographic pressures, • Urbanization, • Technological level, • Alternative livelihoods, • Behavioral challenges. • Governance • Government policies, • Capacity and willingness of the national treasury to provide adequate funds, • Regulatory framework & enforcement mechanisms, • Fragmented institutional structures. D. Bashir & M. Garba

13. Vulnerability to Water Related Disasters • Resources utilization • poor environmental planning, • land use & other natural resource management practices, • water use trends, • environmental degradation. • Awareness • environmental awareness, • level of understanding of risk and vulnerability, • effectiveness of public awareness programmes. • Monitoring and evaluation • monitoring, forecasting and early warning capacities, • imbalance between prevention & response resources, • database on environmental problems and disasters. D. Bashir & M. Garba

14. Nguru-Hadejia Federal Highway - August 2004 Challenges to Water Resources Management in Nigeria • Major challenges arise from inadequate catchment management resulting in: • devastating erosion, • perennial flooding, • recurring drought, • increasing desertification, • These, in many cases, have reached alarming proportions enough to be classified as disasters D. Bashir & M. Garba

15. Challenges to Water Resources Management in Nigeria About 10% of the country’s land mass is under severe erosion problems with more than 50% of the affected areas concentrated in the southeastern Nigeria "According to credible reports, Anambra, Abia, Imo, Enugu and Ebonyi States have over 750, 650, 500, 400 and 250 major erosion sites respectively. This gully census is conservative and incomplete since smaller and young gullies were not enumerated. These younger gullies shall ultimately mature within next year and pose as serious a hazard as older ones" – Egboka (2006) D. Bashir & M. Garba

16. Challenges to Water Resources Management in Nigeria Every year floods in various parts of Nigeria have been reported to cause the death of many people, forced thousands of people from their homes, and destroyed scores of houses and many social infrastructures such as schools, roads and bridges D. Bashir & M. Garba

17. Challenges to Water Resources Management in Nigeria In the weekend of 3rd to 5th August, 2007, some of the reported devastating floods include: D. Bashir & M. Garba

18. Challenges to Water Resources Management in Nigeria • Some extreme cases of drinking water quality problems in a number of locations in Nigeria have been reported (Ince et al., 2006): • high nitrate concentrations in Plateau (246.4 mg/l), Adamawa (149.6 mg/l), Oyo (88.0 mg/l), Kebbi (88.0 mg/l) and Benue (88.0 mg/l) States. These are far above the WHO GL (50 mg/l) and may results in child mortality; • high fluoride concentrations (> WHO GL of 1.5 mg/l) in Yobe (22 mg/l), Plateau (10.5 mg/l) and Oyo (7.5 mg/l) States which may cause dental and skeletal flourosis that cause deformation and disability in susceptible individuals; • Very low pH values were recorded in Plateau (3.6) and Lagos (3.7) States. These acidic waters, if consumed, will cause persistent stomach upset problems; • Very low quality of water supplied by public water agencies with national compliance for turbidity of utility pipe water of only 55%, thermotolerant coliforms (TTC) of 77% and faecal streptococci (FS) of 75%. These indicate serious concern for public health. D. Bashir & M. Garba

19. National Approach to Reduction of WRM Related Disasters • Draft National Water Policy: • seeks to improve on the nation’s water resources management including the management of hydrological risks and vulnerabilities, • Is deficient on strategies on how to prevent such hazards/disasters • Emphasized for the assessment of water resources is to improve real time forecasting of hydrological phenomena D. Bashir & M. Garba

20. National Approach to Reduction of WRM Related Disasters • National Erosion and Flood Control Policy: • is aimed at ensuring co-ordinated and systematic measures in the management and control of the hazards of erosion and floods. • encourages participatory approach towards reducing the impact on people and the environment in an integrated manner by: • Evolving a mechanism for forecasting, monitoring and control of erosion and floods. • Reviewing the land use laws and regulations. • Creating public awareness to encourage participation. • Promoting and strengthening training at all levels in erosion and flood prevention, management and control. • Protection of the marginal lands by limiting utilization to their carrying capacity. • Subjecting resources users and developers to guidelines in order to reduce the vulnerability of the environment to disaster. • Providing early warning systems to avert the escalation of flood and erosion hazards. D. Bashir & M. Garba

21. National Approach to Reduction of WRM Related Disasters • To implement the National Erosion and Flood Control Policy, an Action Plan was developed to achieve the following: • Involvement of all stakeholders in the prevention and management of erosion and flood; • Coordinated participation of other tiers of government in service delivery for erosion and flood control; • Creation of efficient institutional arrangements and legal framework for erosion and flood management; and • Sustainable funding mechanism for effective erosion and flood management. D. Bashir & M. Garba

22. National Approach to Reduction of WRM Related Disasters • To regulate soil and water management activities Technical Guidelines were produced to provide necessary instructions to guide all aspects of: • planning and location, • design features, • construction practice, • maintenance, • research and development; • for: • Inland erosion control, • Flood control, • Watershed management, • Coastal zone management, and • Dams and reservoirs. D. Bashir & M. Garba

23. Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) • IWRM is a process that promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources, in order to maximize the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable way without compromising the sustainability of the vital ecosystems. • IWRM is characterized by the following approaches that will ensure a reasonable reduction in minimizing disaster or its impacts: • integrated, • management, • stakeholder, • partnership, • balanced sustainable approach D. Bashir & M. Garba

24. Integrating DRR Concerns into IWRM • For effective integration of disaster risk reduction concerns into IWRM and related development policies, there is the need for effective institutional strengthening that involves: • Strengthening appropriate legal frameworks based on risk management strategies with due consideration to the development processes; • Informed decision making based on sound scientific knowledge, as well as local indigenous knowledge; • Using tried and tested techniques, and evaluating any promising innovations; • An information base which supports planning and a proactive response to disaster mitigation and reduction; D. Bashir & M. Garba

25. Integrating DRR Concerns into IWRM • Participatory and transparent approach which includes a representative range of stakeholders in the decision making process; • Regional and sub-regional approaches, strategies and cooperation arrangements for a harmonized approach; • Partnerships among different levels of Government, civil society, private sector groups and communities; • Decentralized decision-making through local authorities and basin committees, including the provision of adequate resources and clarify division of responsibilities at various levels; • Effective policies to regulate further growth of human settlements in risky areas including appropriate economic policies, such as fiscal incentives for orientation of economic activities away from disaster-prone areas D. Bashir & M. Garba

26. Framework for Mainstreaming DRR • Mainstreaming DRR should aim at building partnerships and collaboration between stakeholders. Strategies to achieve these include the following: • Develop a system of Indicators to assess disaster risk and develop an assessment methodology to measure key water related risk elements across all the States. • Determine vulnerability to natural hazard events and the performance of different disaster risk management policies and tools where available. • Produce a risk model to be used as a tool to focus attention on risk in order to stimulate actions to reduce risks in disaster prone areas. • Design and support the implementation of an effective water resources data management system. • Develop a way of capturing progress qualitatively and quantitatively, in each thematic area that contributes to reduction of identified risks. • Incorporate risk assessment into development project appraisal and in monitoring and evaluating the impact of initiatives specifically for reducing risk. • Set up minimum standards to be attained in disaster assistance by specifying what people affected by disasters have a right to expect from humanitarian assistance. D. Bashir & M. Garba

27. Constraints to DRR Programs • Key factors that may constraint the attainment of the objectives of DRR program: • Poverty and poor level of basic education among the generality of the populace; • High level of corruption; • Perception of politicians and policy makers that disaster risk reduction is much less visible than emergency response; • Donors and support agencies less willing to fund risk reduction compared to their support for emergency assistance; • Insignificant attention to and little interest in disaster risk reduction by the media; • Low awareness and education on disaster risk reduction among NGOs and their tendency to follow donor priorities; • Assumption that poverty-focused development will automatically reduce disaster risk; • Weak water resources data acquisition and management system D. Bashir & M. Garba

28. Recommendations • To institutionalize disaster risk reduction in water resources development and management in Nigeria, a wide range of strategies and activities are required to be carried out in a holistic and coordinated approach. To this end, we recommend the following: • Promote development of IWRM plans by supporting and coordinating the efforts of all water resources management stakeholders in this regard. As Nigeria is yet to develop its National IWRM Plan, there is urgent need to embark on a holistic programme of developing IWRM Plans from the LGAs to the Federal levels. • Develop National Systems for Disaster Prevention and Response by establishing legal and regulatory frameworks and programs that bring together the planning agencies, local governments and civil society organizations; developing national strategies for risk reduction, and assessing inter-sectoral priorities, backed by adequate budgetary provisions. D. Bashir & M. Garba

29. Recommendations • Minimize vulnerability by Supporting and empowering poor households and communities to reduce their vulnerability to natural hazards and enhance their capabilities to recover from disasters through reconstruction assistance. • Involve the private sectorby creating conditions for the development of insurance markets, encouraging the use of other risk-spreading financial instruments where appropriate, and designing economic and regulatory incentives for risk reduction behavior. • Provide risk information for decision-making by establishing an effective national water resources data management system. This will facilitate evaluating risk assessment methodologies, developing indicators of vulnerability, and stimulating the production and wide dissemination of risk information. • Foster regional cooperation in the management of transboundary water resources by supporting regional organizations to promote coordinated actions and to mobilize regional and international resources for investments in disaster risk reduction program. D. Bashir & M. Garba

30. THANKS FOR LISTENING D. Bashir & M. Garba