BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
& DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
By Pascal Girot Ph.D., Policy Advisor, UNDP

As UNDP’s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery launches its global report for disaster reduction, it is timely for UNDP to deepen its understanding of the way in which the sound conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity can contribute to the mitigation of weather-related hazards throughout the world. While it is clear that biodiversity conservation is not a silver bullet, nor a blanket solution to disaster risks, there is growing evidence that the conservation, restoration and wise use of ecosystems, particularly those most related to the hydrological cycle, can provide a wide range of environmental goods and services to local populations as well as humanity as a whole. This short essay seeks to explore the range of environmental goods and services provided by healthy ecosystems, and in particular those that have a direct bearing on reducing or abating weather-related hazards.

In 1990, the United Nations declared the last decade of the 20th Century as the International Decade for the Reduction of Natural Disasters (IDRND). Paradoxically, signs of environmental change seem to have increased in frequency and magnitude during the past decade. It is estimated that 14 of the 20 hottest years on record during the twentieth century occurred between 1980-2000, while the hottest year to date was 1998. This same year also broke records in the cost of destruction and disruption caused by disasters, with some US$98 billion in damages and 32,000 casualties due to climatic phenomena (a 50% increase on the previous year). Even considering devaluation, the economic losses to disasters throughout the world during the 1990s are nine times greater than those sustained during the 1960s (DIRDN, 1999). Munich Re, the German re-insurance group, has estimated that of the 31 major catastrophes recorded since 1992, a total of 29 were triggered by hydro-meteorological hazards (extreme weather, heat waves, ice storms, hurricanes). The same group estimates that if current trends persist, annual losses over the next decade will come close to US$150 Billion (Berz G. and Th. Loster, 2001).

By far the most lethal of natural hazards are floods, which account for 40% of all deaths. It is estimated that half of humanity (3 billion) lives in coastal areas or near rivers. The importance of looking at how to restore, maintain and enhance the capacity of healthy ecosystems to store excess water, regulate stream flow and buffer against weather extremes cannot therefore be overstated. This is why many ecosystems, particularly floodplain forests and wetlands, play an important buffering function for major hydro-meteorological events, through flood storage and flow regulation (Godschalk, D. 1999; Cuny, F. 1983). A key feature of current research in ecology is the concept of resilience, by which an ecosystem's sturdiness is measured by its ability to withstand, recover from and evolve from major disturbances (Holling, C.S. 1986; Gunderson and Holling 2002 ). The thresholds which enable certain geomorphological or biological systems to prevail in the face of adversity help us understand the need for structural and non-structural hazard mitigation.

Traditionally, the response by many societies to the growing impact of natural hazards has focused on the construction of civil defense or engineering works (such as levies, reinforced structures, earthquake-proof buildings, etc.). This is commonly known as structural mitigation. These measures are often extremely costly, and of limited effectiveness during particularly high magnitude events (Blaikie, P., 1997; Maskrey A., 1993). Other authors suggest that an alternative to these protective measures and civil defense works should rely more systematically on the buffering capacity of natural ecosystems (Tobin G. A. and B. E. Montz, 1997; K. Smith, 1996). There is a growing tendency to resort to environmental management practices to mitigate against hazards, particular in floodplains, coastal lagoons and mangrove swamps.

The ’rediscovery’ of the role of natural systems in buffering the impact of hazards has been most clearly documented following the catastrophic 1993 Mississippi valley floods, in the United States, which affected an estimated 6.6 million acres of land, produced between $12 and $16 billion in damage and cost 38 lives (Godschalk D., 1999). The scale of these spring floods and the limited effectiveness of existing structural mitigation measures dramatically changed the way that floodplain planning has been conceived in the United States. A government report following the disaster, known as the Galloway Report, ”endorsed the gradual move away from structural measures, embraces land use and relocation strategies, and emphasizes protecting and restoring the natural functioning of river systems” (Godschalk, D., 1999). The final conclusions of the report advocate the wise use of floodplains, echoing the calls since the 1971 Ramsar Convention for the wise use of wetlands.

Thus in many cases the best forms of hazard mitigation can be found through restoration and enhancement of natural hydrological and biological processes. This may include the conservation of forest cover in upper tributaries of major watersheds, the enhancement of the buffering role of wetlands in flood control or the role of mangrove forests in protection against coastal storms and tidal surges. There is also growing evidence of the tangible benefits of harnessing ecosystem functions for nutrient recycling thanks to ecological sanitation systems. Thus a healthy ecosystem can provide real protection to human settlements by buffering damaging agents and providing key livelihood resources (Godschalk, D., 1999). There are particular ecosystems and life zones which contribute to the mitigation of weather-related hazards by regulating base flow and providing flood storage. These must be accorded their true value as part of the emerging potential of environmental services.

Loss of biodiversity increases the likelihood of disasters such as landslides

Over half of the disaster-related losses worldwide are weather-related. There is therefore a strong need to focus on how local communities manage and enhance the range of ecosystems, goods and services provided, for instance, by cloud forests in the upper watersheds and by downstream wetlands both inland and coastal. There are key lessons to be learned from the past in terms of mitigating risk by empowering local communities to manage their own risk, reducing vulnerability through the increased resilience of institutions and ecosystems. Often linked to indigenous and communal land tenure systems, these stable, diverse and versatile livelihood systems are key to maintaining a steady flow of goods and services from natural ecosystems, while adapting to sudden changes. Adaptation to climate change and environmental change is key to determining how resilient a society is to natural hazards. Resilience when related to disaster preparedness is linked to the capacity to predict, prepare for and recover from damaging agents. But it is also a means to identify which are the thresholds which constitute the limit of a system’s capacity to absorb sudden climatic, geological or biological shifts. A key measure of resilience is the extent of adaptation and mitigation achieved through sound environmental stewardship. This is precisely why we are seeing isolated but significant initiatives by local communities to manage and restore coastal ecosystems, such as mangroves in countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam, in order to protect their livelihoods and assets from coastal storms and tidal surges. In Central America, we are also seeing incipient efforts to include the provision of water supplies for urban consumption and energy generation as part of environmental service payment arrangements in Costa Rica and El Salvador.

There are many more potential linkages between environmental stewardship upstream and urban and agricultural land use downstream. Flood mitigation will no doubt become a growing type of environmental service provided to communities downstream. Hopefully, UNDP-BDP will be in a strong position to support such no-regrets strategies by enabling knowledge and policy services to strengthen ongoing efforts by local communities to sustainably manage their environmental assets, thus contributing to the mitigation of weather-related hazards. This effort will also improve our understanding of the coping mechanisms and adjustments necessary to adapt to changing environmental and climatic conditions. Seen in these terms, conservation can no longer be considered as a luxury or a privilege, but rather as the basis from which to abate risk and provide security and sustainable livelihoods to human populations throughout the world.

References

 

Online resources:

UNDP Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery

 

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Top photo by Galen R Frysinger (www.galenfrysinger.com)