A new, MRI-funded publication in the journal Environmental Science & Policy highlights how coordinated community and ecosystem-based actions offer a potential path to achieving disaster risk reduction, climate adaptation, sustainable development, and biodiversity conservation for vulnerable ecosystems and communities worldwide.


Article Highlights

  • Over 70 percent of disaster-related deaths from 2005 to 2014 occurred in mountainous regions.
  • Experiences in mountains reveal principles to guide disaster risk reduction (DRR).
  • Effective DRR addresses both community and ecosystem health.
  • DRR governance should fit local needs and requires local to global partnerships.
  • Successful DRR actions focus on capacity building, inclusive knowledge, and equity.

Abstract

The devastating 2015 earthquakes in Nepal highlighted the need for effective disaster risk reduction (DRR) in mountains, which are inherently subject to hazards and increasingly vulnerable to extreme events. As multiple UN policy frameworks stress, DRR is crucial to mitigate the mounting environmental and socioeconomic costs of disasters globally. However, specialized DRR guidelines are needed for biodiverse, multi-hazard regions like mountains. Ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR) emphasizes ecosystem conservation, restoration, and sustainable management as key elements for DRR. 

This paper proposes that integrating the emerging field of Eco-DRR with community-based DRR (CB-DRR) will help address the increasing vulnerabilities of mountain people and ecosystems. Drawing on a global mountain synthesis, the paper presents paradoxes that create challenges for DRR in mountains and examines these paradoxes through examples from the 2015 Nepal earthquakes. It proposes four principles for integrated CB- and Eco-DRR that address these challenges: (1) governance and institutional arrangements that fit local needs; (2) empowerment and capacity-building to strengthen community resilience; (3) discovery and sharing of constructive practices that combine local and scientific knowledge; and (4) approaches focused on well-being and equity. 

The paper illustrates the reinforcing relationship between integrated CB- and Eco-DRR principles with examples from other mountain systems worldwide. Coordinated community and ecosystem-based actions offer a potential path to achieve DRR, climate adaptation, sustainable development, and biodiversity conservation for vulnerable ecosystems and communities worldwide.

This publication was supported by MRI funding.


Citation: Julia A. Klein,* Catherine M. Tucker,* Cara E. Steger, Anne Nolin, Robin Reid, Kelly A. Hopping, Emily T. Yeh, Meeta S. Pradhan, Andrew Taber, David Molden, Rucha Ghate, Dhrupad Choudhury, Irasema Alcántara-Ayala,* Sandra Lavorel, Birgit Müller, Adrienne Grêt-Regamey,* Randall B. Boone, Patrick Bourgeron, Edwin Castellanos,* Xiaodong Chen, Shikui Dong, Margreth Keiler, Roman Seidl, Jessica Thorn, Karina Yager.

'An integrated community and ecosystem-based approach to disaster risk reduction in mountain systems.' Environmental Science & Policy, Volume 94, April 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2018.12.034 

* MRI SLC Member / MRI Co-PI


 

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