Harmonized Perspectives - CDKN Global

Causes and complementary consequencesPopulation and DRRThe growth of informal settlements and slums in the urban core fueled by international immigration orinternal migration from smaller urban settlements or from the countryside to the cities has led to theflowering of unstable living environments. These settlements are often located in ravines, steep slopes,in floodplains or near industrial plants or hazardous or dangerous transportation systems 133 . Most citiesin Central America are characterized by their low capacity to deliver public services in quantity andquality.In this decade, most of the world's population growth will occur in urban areas of Africa, Asia and LatinAmerica and the Caribbean and, in 2007, more than half the world's population will live in cities 134 .The causes of migration, both internal and international, are due to several reasons: 1. the economicstructure, social and cultural exclusion: Major inequalities in access to resources and export-orientedactivity based on natural resources with little transformation 2. Political conflicts, 3.The process ofurbanization and reduction of rural stimulated rurality; and 4. Risks and disasters.The negative impact of unplanned urbanization on the environment and the ecological balance ismanifested in 135 : 1. the density of land use, 2. deforestation; 3. loss of soil cover and 4. Pollution.The weak control on the implementation of Minimum Standards of Construction and Safety Buildingand Housing is an important factor in increasing vulnerability in urban areas 136 . In addition,deficiency of Drainage Systems and changes in Land Surface Area increases the accumulation of rainwater and the sudden threat of flash floods and landslides 137 .In 2005 in Central America 138 : 1. Areas for agriculture exports increased over 2000, replacingmostly forested areas, 2. Populated areas increased by 46%, and 3. Forests decreased byapproximately 10%.Climate Change and DRR"Managing risk reduction" and the so called "adaptation to climate change" should be seen, built,implemented and executed as key components of a new vision and definition of development, not as anattachment to an existing development, satisfactory but still there is room for improvement.Development must be redefined through a necessary and fundamental integration issues such as risk,gender, environment and equity. At the same time, it is imperative to realize that when operating onland degradation, territorial ordering, livelihoods and governance, as the Global Assessment Report onRisk Disaster Reduction 2009, we simultaneously progress in reducing risk and poverty, adaptation toclimate change and achieving the Millennium Development Goals 139 .Risk reduction management and adaptation to climate change should be seen as a transversal,transterritorial and integral management, within the framework of comprehensive development.Climate change is another expression that explains how global processes affect local processes. But alsowhen it occurs in a world characterized by new forms of development and integration, modernization,globalization, knowledge, we know, even though not exactly, that there will be severe changes in riskfactors associated with exposure and vulnerability that will be resolved only to the extent whereintervention is perceived and concretized under the integrated modalities. Sectorization, the bias andspecialization, although relevant, will sometimes have to be overcome with a more comprehensive and133 Disaster risk reduction. A challenge for development. A global report; UNDP, 2004; p. iii.134 Ibid. P. iv.135 Trejo, Rosa, Department of sustainable development, OAS, January 2009.136 Trejo, Rosa, ibid.137 Trejo, Rosa, ibid.138 Trejo, Rosa, ibid.139 Lavell, Alan, The Risk of Disasters Occurrence, climate change, the local level and management. Environmental Observatory,USAC, URL, FLACSO, March 2011, p. 4.31