Practitioner Brief 2: Integrating Disaster Risk Reduction & Climate Change Adaptation

Locally Led Adaptation & Resilience

Disaster Risk & Humanitarian Action

This brief describes a climate-integrated community-based Early Warning System implemented by the Adaptation Learning Programme (ALP) in Dakoro, Niger. Integration of community-based adaptation (CBA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) is important in a context of chronic vulnerability, recurring emergencies and increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather events associated with climate change. The brief provides a rationale for the early warning approach, including an overview of the associated benefits and challenges, as well as the key practical elements and lessons learned through implementation.

The purpose of this Practitioner Brief is not to provide a blueprint for integrating community-based adaptation and disaster risk reduction, but to invite expansion and modification – based on lessons learned by ALP. It also aims to provide organizations implementing community-based early warning and community based adaptation with greater clarity and practical insights for integrating a climate perspective. It is designed for CBA practitioners, including local government representatives, civil society organizations (CSOs) and other actors working on climate change and DRR issues at the local level. It will also be useful for policy makers and donors engaged in planning and allocation of resources for adaptation action.

The brief is the second in a series of practitioner briefs which document ALP learning on community based adaptation approaches in ways that are useful to practitioners, development actors and decision-makers.