Page 14 - FMR64_Trafficking and smuggling & Climate crisis and local communities_2020_web

FMR 64
14 Climate crisis and local communities
www.fmreview.org/issue64 June 2020

groups such as women and youth. “If we forecasts for the next season based on
could get some initial capital, we could their experience of previous droughts and
work in the market, build some berkas as traditional pastoral communities.
[wells] to sell water or build a small tea The current disaster risk reduction
shop,” said a female pastoralist in Koracle. committees comprise the host community,
Displaced communities also suggested IDPs and local authorities as key partners in
that small cooperative groups and savings decision-making processes. The objective of
associations should be set up to support the this structure is to involve the population
development of income-generation activities. in planning processes and to generate
IDPs in Gafow and Koracle said that, agency and ownership in building durable
because of the severity of the last drought, solutions. Throughout this process, any
they had developed new coping strategies: grassroots responses need to include a
“We can do two things if another drought sensitive approach to gender, age, disability
comes. First, we can sell the animals and and marginalisation, and should (i) integrate
make money before we run out of pasture gender perspectives into programming,
and water and, after the drought, buy ensuring that interventions have a positive
animals again. Second, in small towns impact on enabling – in particular – women’s
like Warder, there are more services rights, voice and participation, and (ii)
and infrastructure. We can come here to include an analysis of social exclusion (the
the animal feeding centres during the elderly and people with disabilities) and
drought,” reflected a male pastoralist. how this arises in particular communities,
An important debate about the option of to ensure that programming benefits
restocking and how it fits into a livelihoods every member of the community.
resilience strategy is currently taking place Additional committees were created
in Ethiopia. Most IDPs prefer to be locally in 2017 in each IDP camp; these comprised
integrated but opinion is divided as to both male and female local elders, who
whether having animals again would be represented IDPs in conversations with the
beneficial if it meant returning them to a government and NGOs. However, in the
pastoral and semi-nomadic way of life. Some absence of government support, many of
people felt the best option was that some these committees are no longer functioning.
members of the family, particularly women Identifying durable solutions that
and children, should stay close to the peri- emerge from and are appropriate to the
urban areas such as Warder to learn new communities themselves is one of the
skills and to have better access to water and challenges facing the development of and
to services such as education and health support for durable solutions in the region
care – while the men would return to rural and in the country. A stronger commitment to
areas to raise livestock. “If we have livestock local counterparts, starting with committees
again, we are not taking our children out of of IDPs and host community grassroots
school,” said a male pastoralist in Koracle. organisations, would enable greater
acceptance, ownership and sustainability.
Community-based strategies Pablo Cortés Ferrández
The community-based disaster risk pablo.ferrandez@idmc.ch
management strategy, developed in zones Research Associate, Internal Displacement
such as Dollo by the government’s Disaster Monitoring Centre www.internal-displacement.org
Risk Management Bureau together with the
support of international NGOs, has proved 1. IDMC undertook a research programme in December 2018
to investigate internal displacement associated with slow-onset
successful. The whole community, including environmental change focusing on Gafow and Koracle, two of the
women, youth and elders, participate in 252 sites for IDPs displaced by drought in Ethiopia. IDMC (2018)
No Matter of Choice: Displacement in a Changing Climate
disaster risk reduction committees. They bit.ly/IDMC-NoMatterOfChoice-2018
are given an initial cash grant to discuss 2. IOM (2018) Ethiopia National Displacement Report: Round 18: July–
the current situation and produce weather August 2019 bit.ly/IOM-NDR-Ethiopia-Round18