Disaster Risk Management For Coastal Tourism Destinations - DTIE

Disaster Risk Management For Coastal Tourism Destinations Responding To Climate Change
A Practical Guide For Decision Makers
Public sector development control strategies should therefore strengthen
building codes and planning standards e.g. zoning developments away from
disaster prone areas and relocating vulnerable communities; constructing
resorts well back from the high water mark; erection of coastal protection
infrastructure (including use of soft engineering features). For some
destinations this is a question of stricter enforcement of existing legislation.
For the tourism private sector, it is important to reinforce the practices
that minimize alterations to adjacent ecosystems and that maintain natural
protection along vulnerable coasts.
Incorporating local risk reduction actions into operations should be viewed
as the practical short-term steps that help ensure adaptation to long term
climate changes.
Integrated institutional and legislative mechanisms: Legislative and
institutional frameworks must also evolve synchronously with the pace of
national and community-based risk management frameworks. The UNISDR
institutional systems and especially for coastal destinations impacted by
climate risk.
The Caribbean region has made some progress on this front. The Caribbean
Disaster Emergency and Response Agency (CDERA) in its regional work,
has assisted Caribbean small island developing states in the development
of model national disaster management legislation and national risk
reduction plans. This provides a good start towards reducing vulnerability
and improving the region’s preparedness and response. However, for
the purposes of mainstreaming disaster risk reduction, countries need to
urgently enforce the legislation and polices that are current with the latest
science, strategies and programs for mitigating climate change risk.
Integrating ecosystem protection into disaster risk reduction: Coastal
communities become more vulnerable to hydro-meteorological events when
key ecosystems e.g. reefs, mangroves, dunes and beaches are weakened,
eroded or impaired by indiscriminate use or by persistent pollution.
Wetlands, reefs, dunes, beaches and coastal vegetation are interconnected
ecosystems and contribute to biological diversity. They nourish and stabilize
Over the long term, disturbance to these systems weakens their capacity
to withstand high waves and storm surges and adapt to gradual sea level
rise. Investing in ecosystem and biological diversity preservation and
rehabilitation programs or just leaving them undisturbed will prove less
costly to coastal communities in the long term.
Improving local level response capabilities: While the policy framework
for disaster management is at the national level, response and mitigation
remains distinctly a local or community level activity. A community-based
risk management approach and strategy must be advocated by the local
disaster agency as an effective method of inculcating a culture of risk
management.
88 | Achieving Community Resilience