RCE Srinagar - 2019

Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction Making India Climate Smart, Disaster Resilient and Sustainable
Basic Information
Title of project : 
Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction Making India Climate Smart, Disaster Resilient and Sustainable
Submitting RCE: 
RCE Srinagar
Contributing organization(s) : 

1. RCE Srinagar
2. State Disaster Management Authority, Government of Uttar Pradesh
3. State Institute of Rural Development, Government of Uttar Pradesh
4. Office of the Relief Commissioner, Government of Uttar Pradesh

Focal point(s) and affiliation(s)
Name: 
Abdhesh Kumar Gangwar
Organizational Affiliation: 
RCE Srinagar (formerly with Centre for Environment Education)
E-mail: 
abdhesh.gangwar@gmail.com
Format of project: 
Manuscript and PowerPoint
Language of project: 
English
Date of submission:
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Web link: 
1. http://www.rce-network.org/; 2. www.sirdup.in; 3. www.upsdma.up.nic.in; 4. https://rahat.up.nic.in
Additional resources: 
1. Remote Sensing Application Centre, Government of Uttar Pradesh (www.rsacup.org.in)
2. National Disaster Management Authority, Government of India (https://ndma.gov.in)
3. National Institute of Disaster Management, Government of India (https://nidm.gov.in)
4. Uttar Pradesh State Disaster Management Act 2005
5. National Disaster Management Act 2005, Government of India
Does this project link to any education and/or sustainable development policy or policies?: 
Yes
National Disaster Management Act 2005, UP State Disaster Management Act 2005, India's Action Plan on Climate Change, Sendai Framework for DRR 2015-2030
At what level is the policy operating?: 
National
Geographical & Education Information
Region: 
Asia-Pacific
Country: 
India
Location(s): 
State of Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere in India
Address of focal point institution for project: 
RCE Srinagar Address:
House 037, Stadium Colony-A, Baramulla 193101, Jammu & Kashmir, India
Phones: +91-8840045154, +91-9419069589, +91-706037700

Focal Point Address:
A-459, Indira Nagar, Lucknow 226 016 India
Tele Fax: +91-522-2355350 Mobile: +91-9415104125
Ecosystem(s):
Agricultural, Dryland, Forest, Fresh water, Grassland, Mountain, Urban/Peri-urban, Wetlands
Target Audience:
Community, Primary, Secondary, Teacher Ed., Youth (Informal)
Government Officials of the Revenue Department
Socioeconomic and environmental characteristics of the area : 
Uttar Pradesh (UP) is the most populous state of India. Having yearly population increase of 1.7736 million, currently it has 223.2416 million population, about 17.5% of country’s total, more than 59 million below poverty line. Having population density of 828 people per square kilometre it is the most densely populated state of India. Its literacy rate is below national average, 79% for men and 59% for women. Having rampant poverty, malnutrition, poor sanitation, hygiene, high infant mortality, stunted growth of children, anaemia, it is a multi-disasters prone state inhabited with most vulnerable population. Because of high population UP dominates the political system and decision making of India. With its share of India’s large portion of population, more so the most vulnerable one, making UP disaster resilient will make India disaster resilient, to a great extent.
Description of sustainable development challenge(s) in the area the project addresses: 
In most sectors and indicators of sustainable development UP ranks very low and performs very poor in achieving most SDGs. UP has high vulnerability for the reasons described in previous column. Besides, it is highly prone to climate change impacts for floods as most of its rivers are glacial fed. Agriculture and animal husbandry are major source of income and employment to more than 70% population and both these sectors are badly hit adversely by climate change impacts. Floods, drought, extreme weather events, heat waves, cold waves, fire pose serious threats to food, nutrition, health and well-being security. Illiterate, unhealthy, unskilled, insensitive, not committed and enthusiastic population under rampant corruption pose serious hindrances in achieving sustainable development.
Contents
Status: 
Ongoing
Period: 
April, 2018 to March, 2020
Rationale: 
UP being most populous has highest number of Members of Parliament compared to other states and thus it steers and governs the politics and decision making of India. UP becoming disaster resilient, climate smart and sustainable has been much needed, both for the state itself as well as for the country. UP has to be a role model for the other states. The RCE Srinagar project activities undertaken addressed to 49 Indicators under 5 sectors of Health and Nutrition, Education, Agriculture and Water Resources, Financial Inclusion and Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure. Disaster resilience helped in checking the loss of lives and property and saved money for development that was otherwise to be spent on relief and rehabilitation. Becoming climate smart saved agriculture and other livelihood sources bringing food security and prosperity. Environmental sustainability drives sustainable development and all the project activities put together help in achieving the SDGs. The prevalent notion and practice of Disaster Management confined to only relief and rehabilitation needed to be changed to risk reduction and risk management which the RCE project has successfully achieved. Collaboration with the government departments and agencies was required to get DRR mainstreamed, included into policies and practices of the government, all the departments, NGOs, civil society and the community. Getting DRR mainstreamed was much needed and a challenge but it has been done successfully.
Objectives: 
Project objectives included:
1. To get risk reduction and risk management (Sendai Framework for DRR 2015-2030) understood and included in existing disaster management practice confined to relief distribution.
2. To train and capacity build the first responders on behalf of the State and Central governments during disasters to enable them to perform their role and responsibility in disaster management better, more effectively and efficiently.
3. To impart climate change and sustainability education to climate proof livelihood practices ensuring food, nutrition, health and well-being security.
4. To get DRR mainstreamed at all levels of governance especially in Gram Panchayat Development Plans making community-based disaster management a reality.
5. To help Gram Panchayats make their ‘Village Disaster Management Plan’ and schools make their ‘School Disaster Management Plan’ ensuring safety and well-being of all, everywhere, all the time.
Activities and/or practices employed: 
Two resource material books and two trainings modules, one for State level Training of Trainers (ToTs) for the Master Trainers (MTs) and the other for the district level trainings for the Lekhpals were prepared in Hindi language and given to all the participants, also made available on website, put in public domain.
Two sets of trainings were organised. The first one was State level, five-day long ToTs to train senior officers of the Revenue Department as MTs.
The second set of trainings are (continuing) three-day long at district level to train all the Lekhpals (first responder from government side during any disaster) using the MTs as resource persons. Total 426 MTs were trained during 15 ToTs organised between 17 June 2019 till 9 August 2019. District level trainings are in progress and will get over by 31 December 2019. 14,220 Lekhpals from all the 75 districts of UP are getting trained through 474 district level trainings. Some of the participants include local NGOs and institutions engaged in DRR.
Size of academic audience: 
426 senior officials, 14,220 Lekhpals, 59,073 Gram Panchayats, 438 Municipal bodies, 2,43,014 schools and their 10,09,333 teachers and 2,58,06,929 students, around 78 million population
Results: 
The project helped in mainstreaming DRR and necessary capacity enhancement. All the government departments need to have DRR awareness, spread it in public they deal with and are required to prepare the disaster management plan of their department. India is largely rural and Gram Panchayats, the lowest level of Panchayati Raj Institutions, mainstream DRR into their Gram Panchayat Development Plan. Every village has schools. The schools made aware of DRR and helped in preparing their ‘School Disaster Management Plan’. The schools and their Gram Panchayats work together for DRR of their citizens. School teachers become an asset to the Gram Panchayats in helping them in creating DRR awareness and prepare ‘Village Disaster Management Plan’. State Disaster Management Authority continuously trains district level officials in DRR, RCE Srinagar helping them as a resource person. The resource material developed under the project is being disseminated to all the Hindi speaking states and citizenry of India which is a huge number. Project has helped in improving quality of environment and quality of life of people of UP and India. The reach out of the project is described above under ‘size of academic audience’.
Lessons learned: 
For large scale, long-lasting results and sustainability of the interventions undertaken it is important to liaison and partner with the government and get things mainstreamed. Government departments has constraints in reaching out to the last man (though it is their mandate, however for lack of commitment, interest and enthusiasm amongst government employees to go to rural areas) RCEs can bridge this gap taking government interventions and their benefits to rural population. RCEs’ expertise, if their own, and added with what is gathered from Regional and Global RCE meetings is a fantastic and valuable resource to be made available to local governments to put it into practice and getting translated into action. RCEs need to work closely with the governments to get RCE community recognised, their credentials established and putting RCEs’ strengths into local action achieving SDGs and making sustainable development a reality.
Key messages: 
Humanity’s ecological footprint having reached much beyond Earth’s biocapacity, earth overshoot day on 1 August in 2018 and 29 July in 2019, manifests in climate change, consequently extreme weather events, environmental catastrophes and disasters. We need to make world climate smart, disaster resilient and sustainable. To make our dream ‘Green Earth, Blue Sky and Disaster Resilient Community’ come true we reduce our footprint, increase our handprint and get out of the earth overshoot achieving ‘One Planet Living’ ensuring well-being of all, everywhere, all the time.
Relationship to other RCE activities: 
RCE Srinagar has been advocating and promoting DRR amongst the RCE community and in the agenda of RCE meetings, both regional and global. We formed and launched ‘Asia Pacific RCEs DRR Network’ during 9th Tongyeong ESD International Forum, 12-13 December 2017 held at RCE Tongyeong, Sejahtera Forest, Republic of Korea (reported in RCE e-bulletin Issues 66: February 2017 and 74: October 2017). Most RCEs of Asia Pacific Region are part of this initiative.
Funding: 
The project activities were financially supported by the Government of UP, Office of the Relief Commissioner. UP State Disaster Management Authority, UP State Institute of Rural Development, UP Remote Sensing Application Centre, Universities, Departments of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Irrigation and Flood Control, Fire, Emergency Services, Panchayati Raj, National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force, Civil Defence, Medical and Health, Forests, Environment, NGOs provided their academic and technical expertise and support.

Pictures:

File Name Caption for picture Photo Credit
Image icon Abdhesh Gangwar making presentation on CC and DRR.JPG (1.96 MB) Abdhesh Gangwar making presentation on Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction State Institute of Rural Development, Government of Uttar Pradesh
State Disaster Response Force making their presentation State Institute of Rural Development, Government of Uttar Pradesh
Certificate distribution State Disaster Response Force making their presentation
Image icon A Group photograph of participants, organizers and some resource persons.jpg (3.18 MB) A Group photograph of participants, organizers and some resource persons State Disaster Response Force making their presentation
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
(https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs) and other themes of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
SDG 1 - End poverty in all its forms everywhere 
Direct
SDG 2 - End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture 
Direct
SDG 3 - Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages 
Direct
SDG 4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all 
Direct
SDG 5 - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls 
Indirect
SDG 6 - Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all 
Direct
SDG 7 - Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all 
Indirect
SDG 8 - Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all 
Indirect
SDG 9 - Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation, and foster innovation 
Direct
SDG 10 - Reduce inequality within and among countries 
Direct
SDG 11 - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable 
Direct
SDG 12 - Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns 
Indirect
SDG 13 - Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts 
Direct
SDG 15 - Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss 
Direct
SDG 16 - Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels 
Indirect
SDG 17 - Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development 
Indirect
Theme
Disaster Risk Reduction 
Direct
Traditional Knowledge  
Direct
Agriculture 
Direct
Arts 
Indirect
Curriculum Development 
Indirect
Ecotourism 
Indirect
Forests/Trees 
Direct
Plants & Animals 
Direct
Waste 
Indirect
Global Action Programme (GAP) on Education for Sustainable Development – Priority Action Areas
Priority Action Area 1 - Advancing policy 
Direct
Priority Action Area 2 - Transforming learning and training environments 
Direct
Priority Action Area 3 - Building capacities of educators and trainers 
Direct
Priority Action Area 4 - Empowering and mobilizing youth 
Direct
Priority Action Area 5 - Accelerating sustainable solutions at local level 
Direct
Update: 
No