IPCC_Managing Risks of Extreme Events.pdf - Climate Access

Case StudiesChapter 99.2.14. Education, Training, and Public Awareness Initiativesfor Disaster Risk Reduction and Adaptation9.2.14.1. IntroductionDisasters can be substantially reduced if people are well informed andmotivated to prevent risk and to build their own resilience (UNISDR,2005b). Disaster risk reduction education is broad in scope: it encompassesprimary and secondary schooling, training courses, academic programs,and professional trades and skills training (UNISDR, 2004), communitybasedassessment, public discourse involving the media, awarenesscampaigns, exhibits, memorials, and special events (Wisner, 2006). Giventhe breadth of the topic, this case study illustrates just a few practicesin primary school education, training programs, and awareness-raisingcampaigns in various countries.9.2.14.2. BackgroundThe Hyogo Framework calls on states to “use knowledge, innovation,and education to build a culture of safety and resilience at all levels”(UNISDR, 2005b). States report minor progress in implementation,however (UNISDR, 2009c). Challenges noted include the lack of capacityamong educators and trainers, difficulties in addressing needs in poorurban and rural areas, the lack of validation of methodologies and tools,and little exchange of experiences. On the positive side, the 2006-2007international campaign “Disaster Risk Reduction Begins at School”(UNISDR, 2006) raised awareness of the importance of education with55 governments undertaking awareness-raising activities and 22governments reporting success in making schools safer (e.g., 175 schoolsdeveloped disaster plans in Gujarat, India) by developing educationaland training materials, introducing school drills, and implementing DRRteacher trainings (UNISDR, 2008b). Furthermore, the implementationscheme of the United Nations Decade of Education for SustainableDevelopment 2005-2014 seeks to improve the knowledge base ondisaster reduction as one of the keys to sustainable development.A related emerging trend is to engage children in disaster risk reductionand adaptation, as children are increasingly understood as effective agentsof change (Mitchell et al., 2009). Children’s inclusion also increases thelikelihood that they will maintain their own DRR and adaptation learning(Back et al., 2009). A report from five NGOs (Twigg and Bottomley, 2011)states that their DRR work with children and young people involves riskidentification and action planning for preparedness; training of schoolteachers and students; DRR curriculum development; youth-led preventionand risk reduction actions, such as mangrove and tree conservation;awareness raising (e.g., through peer-to-peer community exchangesand children’s theater); and “lobbying and networking in promotingand supporting children’s voice and action.”Effective DRR education initiatives seek to elicit behavioral change notonly by imparting knowledge of natural hazards but also by engagingpeople in identifying and reducing risk in their surroundings. In formaleducation, disaster risk education should not be confined within theschool but promoted to family and community (Shaw et al., 2004).Lectures can create knowledge, particularly if presented with visual aidsand followed up with conversation with other students. Yet it is family,community, and self learning, coupled with school education, thattransform knowledge into behavioral change (Shaw et al., 2004).9.2.14.3. Description of Strategies9.2.14.3.1. School curriculumStates are increasingly incorporating DRR in the curriculum (UNISDR,2009c) and have set targets for so doing in all school curricula by 2015(UNISDR, 2009c). Initiatives to integrate the teaching of climate changeand DRR are also emerging, such as the described Philippines program.Importantly, the new Philippines disaster risk reduction and climatechange laws mandate the inclusion of DRR and climate change,respectively, in school curricula; the following example predates theselaws, however.The Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre and UN DevelopmentProgramme, with the National Disaster Coordinating Council and supportfrom the European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection,assisted the Ministry of Education in the Philippines, Cambodia, and LaoPeople’s Democratic Republic to integrate disaster risk reduction intothe secondary school curriculum. Each country team developed its owndraft module, adapting it to local needs.The Philippines added climate change and volcanic hazards into itsdisaster risk reduction curriculum. The relevant lessons addressed ‘whatis climate change,’ they then asked ‘what is its impact,’ and finally ‘howcan you reduce climate change impact?’ Other lessons focused on theclimate system, typhoons, heat waves, and landslides, among otherrelated topics (Luna et al., 2008). The Philippines’ final disaster riskreduction module was integrated into 12 lessons in science and 16lessons in social studies for the first year of secondary school (Grade 7)(Luna et al., 2008). Each lesson includes group activities, questions to beasked of the students, the topics that the teacher should cover in thelecture, and a learning activity in which students apply knowledgegained and methodology for evaluation of learning by the students(Luna et al., 2008). The project reports that it reached 1,020 students,including 548 girls, who learned about disaster risk reduction and climatechange. Twenty-three teachers participated in the four-day orientationsession. An additional 75 teachers and personnel were trained to trainothers and replicate the experience across the country (Luna et al., 2008).9.14.2.3.2. Training for disaster risk reduction and adaptationIn order to effectively include disaster risk reduction and adaptation inthe curriculum, teachers require (initial and in-service) training onthe substantive matter as well as the pedagogical tools (hands-on,526