Search results

Floods and landslide threats were addressed under the Frontline process in the city of Limbe, Southwestern Cameroon. The purpose of this paper is to present actions undertaken through building local community resilience to floods which are a major threat in the city, with impacts on the local community ranging from death to complete destruction of services and livelihoods.

The actions carried out were informed by the GNDR-supported Frontline survey conducted in 2015 in which the Lower Motowoh community rated floods as an important threat. A series of reflection and learning sessions with the community members was carried out to better understand the problem. Scoping studies on the causes and extent of floods along river Njengele were undertaken by GEADIRR and the community team.

The findings of this paper indicated that the main problem resulted from river channel blockage caused by indiscriminate dumping of refuse into the waterway and sediment deposition from upstream. Further reflection and action planning led to preparatory meetings between GEADIRR and ten community leaders. The unanimous action adopted was to dredge the river. Dredging was carried out in late April and early May of 2016 using a hired bulldozer.

Follow-up shows that after many years of misery from floods, often associated with the loss of loved ones and property, about 500 community residents who benefited from the action did not go through this dreadful ordeal again during the rains of 2016 and 2017. People are currently rebuilding on the reclaimed land which was previously abandoned due to flooding.

Current challenges include changing the mindset of community members about the adverse effects of indiscriminate dumping of household waste into the waterway. It was also a big challenge convincing some members of the community who felt that floods are a natural phenomenon unstoppable by man.

With the shifting patterns of rain and dry periods as a result of global climate change, the people of Gunungkidul have to deal with extreme conditions, such as crop failure, ponds and artificial lakes drying up at an alarming rate due to high evaporation. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Participatory disaster and risks assessment and action planning were carried out to identify how communities perceive risks and identify priorities of actions. Farmers agreed to implement climate adaptive farming which combines organic farming, biological pest control and drought-resistant seedlings from local varieties.

The processes to adaptation required collective actions, paradigm shift and it also constitutes trial and error processes. Acceptance to innovation is mostly one of the major challenges. Working with “contact” farmers and “advance” farmers is the key to the community organizing strategy for innovation and adaptation.

This case study is limited to the adaptation program funded by Indonesia Climate Change Trust Fund in four farmer groups in Purwosari Sub-District, GunungKidul district and Yogyakarta province, Indonesia.

Trainings and direct assistance to climate adaptive farming have benefitted the farmers that they are able to increase the farming production and reduce the risk of crop failure.

The demonstration plot has strengthened farmer groups’ social modalities by working together to shift from traditional into adaptive farming.

This case study described how farmers have shifted from traditional practice into climate adaptive farming.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the iterative process which led to the production of the case studies prepared by Civil Society Organisations which are at the core of this Special issue.

The development of the papers has been a process of “case study authors” peer group (editors included) exchange and discussed development, in a reactive or “stepwise” process encouraging authors to develop their material to reflect very varied contexts and cases related to community-driven actions and vulnerabilities.

The collaborative process has enabled authors to develop and share both the breadth and depth of complex local issues that address emerging vulnerabilities and barriers to community-driven action.

Encouraging local authors to critically explore their local experience and action has deepened our understanding of how communities actually assess and address their local reality and the challenges they face, whether these are locally considered as “disasters” or not, or indeed seen as long-term evolving risks and threats to survival.