Around the world natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes and drought continue to wreak havoc, steal human life, and trigger massive financial losses. With more people living in settlements vulnerable to flooding and other adverse climate conditions, the need for achieving sustainable and disaster-resilient development is urgent.

UNEP is now collaborating with the European Commission on a three-year project to promote ecosystem-based solutions for disaster risk reduction, also known as Eco-DRR. These projects are being implemented in Afghanistan, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Haiti to demonstrate that sustainably managing ecosystems can reduce disaster risk and provide livelihoods to vulnerable communities.

In January 2014, through these Eco-DRR projects, UNEP, together with local NGOs, delivered a series of environmental workshops aimed at promoting environmental awareness and enhancing disaster preparedness. Trainings were tailored to the local context and to the specific type of ecosystem-based intervention. In Sudan, UNEP’s implementing partner, Practical Action, held an awareness raising sessions with five local communities covering issues related to climate change, drought, soil conservation, and farming techniques. In Afghanistan, where efforts are focused on building community resilience through landscape planning, trainings for early warming and disaster preparedness were carried out in seven villages in Bamyan.

Together this work forms a key component of the Eco-DRR projects which aims to foster community engagement and build local capacity to sustain and replicate similar initiatives in other vulnerable regions.

More information

cassidy.travis@unep.org