SAFEGUARD THE ENVIRONMENT FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION

India with its vast population and unique geo-physical characteristics is one of the world’s most disaster pr one countries. Natural hazardous such as cyclones, earthquakes, landslides, floods or droughts occur in different parts of the country in varying intensities. Social conditions that govern the way communities live, affect the extent to which people are affected by the hazard. In order to protect the environment and ourselves from harmful effects of a disaster, we have to prepare ourselves in advance, to face them.

Many hazards are natural and usually inevitable, like cyclones, floods, droughts and earthquakes. They are ‘hazards’ in that they can potentially harm people, economies and the environment if they are not adequately prepared. A ‘disaster’ occurs when a hazard results in devastation that leaves communities or even whole nations unable to cope unaided.

Hazards are the processes or the events of nature. Be it an earthquake, a landslide, a flooding, drought or a chemical mishap – it relates to environment in its occurrence. Environment, in the form of natural resource systems, hold a major stake in people’s vulnerability to the impacts of these disasters.

Disaster risk reduction is a broad approach, which includes all action aiming to reduce disaster risks. Action can be political, technical, social and economic. Disaster risk reduction takes forms as varied as policy guidance, legislation, preparedness plans, agricultural projects, an insurance scheme, or even a swimming lesson. The approach enables people to think and work across society, to make sure that everyone – from governments to individuals – makes the right decisions to reduce the risk and impact of disasters on the environment.

Disaster risk reduction is a major component of climate change adaptation. It is also one of the best links to the human development agenda for promoting  biodiversity and sustainable environmental resource management. Disasters like landslides caused by deforestation remind us that our own safety depends dramatically on common sense protection of the environment. Maintaining biodiversity, grasslands, forests, coastal wetlands, reefs and dunes is an important element of protecting human settlements from drought, desertification, landslides, floods, sea-level rise and storms— all of which are predicted to intensify due to climate change.

Environmental degradation, settlement patterns, livelihood choices and human behavior are all factors contributing to disaster risks, which in turn results in even more harmfully effects on human development and environmental assets. That environment, development and disasters are interconnected is hardly disputed, but the synergies between these factors can often be confusing. At the same time as it is recognized that ecosystems are affected by disasters, it is often forgotten that protecting ecosystem services can both save lives and livelihood. Environmental degradation tends to multiply the actual impacts of hazards and limits an area’s ability to absorb those impacts; this often decreases the overall resilience to hazard impacts and recovery from disasters. In other words, disasters not only reveal underlying social, economic, political and environmental problems but also contribute to worsening them and causing serious challenges to sustainable development.

Safeguard The Environment For Disaster Risk Reduction

 Environmental management for disaster risk reduction does not exist as a formal field of practice. Instead, its scope is largely defined by the goals set by organizations working on related issues, namely: ecosystems conservation, sustainable development, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation / mitigation.

The increasing incidence and intensity of natural hazards and climate change have a distinct impact on the environment and vice versa and must therefore be seen as an integrated whole. In this context environment refers to all of the external factors, conditions, and influences that affect an organism or a community. This includes everything that surrounds an organism or organisms, including both natural and human-built elements. Environmental concerns are essential components of human well-being and contribute positively to human security, providing basic materials for good life, health and social relations. If these are being compromised and overexploited it will ultimately lead to increase of natural hazards. 

Disasters are first and foremost a local phenomenon where the local communities are on the frontlines of the immediate disaster impacts including emergency response, disaster preparedness and for reducing underlying risks factors. Disasters must be seen as much more than a state of emergency, as they carry longer term social impact on the affected communities including loss of public facilities like hospitals, schools and administrative buildings, followed by a compromised overall functioning of the community. For individuals, disasters effectively remove the income sources by damaging or destroying homes, livestock, infrastructure or small scale businesses. Local communities experience a vital setback in development gains already made and the longer term consequences from disasters keeps nations, communities and individuals trapped in poverty cycles. It is often the cumulative effect of high- frequency and low-impact disasters that cause most losses, particularly amongst the poor.  

Disasters are often portrayed as acts of nature, or of a natural order. Yet this is not an accurate reflection of reality. The major factors influencing disaster risks are human and social vulnerability, matched with the overall capacity to respond to, or reduce the impact of natural hazards. An integrated approach including environmental conservation is often enough adopted in the field of disaster risk reduction. At the same time relief organizations tend to focus on damage to life and property, ecological services and their indirect economic values are often omitted completely from disaster assessments. Mainstreaming ecosystem concerns- both ecological and economical- into the development agenda and integrating them into disaster risk reduction, becomes essential. An ecosystem is a functional unit consisting of all the living organisms (plants, animals and microbes) in a given area, as well as the non-living physical and chemical factors of their environment, linked together through nutrient cycling and energy flow. An ecosystem can be of any size – a log, a pond, a field, a forest or the Earth’s biosphere – but it always functions as a whole unit.  

It is only by addressing environment and natural hazards together with poverty that we can separate communities trapped in a grinding poverty cycle, and the ones who secure lives and livelihoods. Poverty is heavily contributing to escalating disaster risk by reducing existing coping capacities and future resilience. Another patch of common ground is that the less privileged are suffering the most from the immediate and long term disaster impacts. Environmental losses are often overlooked, even if this might have the most significant and long term effects on livelihood as an income sources (e.g. agriculture) for the poor. Disasters should therefore be seen as an integrated part of development and without major efforts to address disaster losses, disasters will become a serious obstacle to achieve of the Millennium Development Goals.  Consequently, hazards, vulnerabilities and capacity building needs to be considered in projects and activities aiming at enhancing environmental conservation and reducing disaster risk. 

Disasters threaten the food security of the poorest people worldwide. Disaster risk reduction is vital for ensuring one of the most basic human rights — freedom from hunger. Unless we start to use disaster risk reduction to adapt to environmental climatic changes, responsibly manage growth and stop environmental degradation, disasters will continue to threaten more lives and  the environment.

Environmental exploitation by disasters starts from the very degradation of natural assets or natural capital. Degradation of natural capital is particularly prone to seasonal changes and includes the unavailability of water, game animals and annual plants. Land quality decreases due to spoilt soil characteristics and fertility, as well as unfavorable rainfall patterns.

Recurring earthquakes, floods and similarly devastating disasters result in loss of life and cause long-term social,  economic and environmental consequences.

Reducing the disaster vulnerabilities of slum- dwellers is imperative for any sustainable improvement in their living conditions. Slum-dwellers, their housing and their overall geographical locations are among the most vulnerable to earthquakes, landslides, floods and storms, and the disease outbreaks that come in their wake. This adversely affects the environment.         

Environment, climate change and disaster risk reduction must therefore be treated as an integrated whole to create sustainable development, and be implemented on all levels, including amongst communities. 

Everybody has a role to play in reducing disaster risk. So, judiciously use resources defeat disaster forces.