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  • Project details

  • Leading Organization:
    Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ)
    Implementing Agency:
    GTZ
    Implementing Agency and Partnering Organizations:
    Autonomous government of the North Atlantic Region (GRAAN) and the municipalities of Waspam, Bonanza, Rosita and Santa Teresa
    Summary:

    ##### Adaptation to climate change through disaster risk management in two regions

    In 2004 GTZ started a first project entitled “Adaptation
    to Climate Change through Risk Management” with
    selected
    rural communities on the south-western Pacific
    coast and in the autonomous North Atlantic Region with
    the aim of improving their capacity to adapt to climate
    change by means of strengthened disaster risk management.
    The project also sought to integrate this capacity
    into
    their planning processes.

    Climate and disaster experts may well be aware of general
    and specific risks for particular regions. However, success
    depends on whether those affected and those in charge at
    the community level are aware of these risks as well and
    have a plan and the means to manage them.

    One part of the project was conducted together with indigenous
    Miskito communities along the Rio Tungky in
    the Autonomous Region of the North Atlantic. This area
    is plagued by hurricanes and extreme rainfalls. Floods have
    especially severe impacts due to the heavy contamination
    of some of the rivers by gold mining. Consequent mudslides
    are exacerbated by poor forest management and deforestation.

    Expected Outputs:

    The most important tool to date has been the carrying
    out of a series of participatory risk analyses involving 550
    citizens
    from five Miskito communities. These were facilitated
    by employees from the environmental unit of the
    municipalities of Bonanza and Santa Teresa, assisted by
    the local authorities. They had received special training on
    this new tool, which creates anticipation in order to ensure
    preparedness.

    In addition to several workshops in the
    communities, a contest of drawing local risk-maps was
    conducted and well received.

    The next step, which is still to be completed, is the thorough
    integration of the identified risks into the local land
    management plans, plus the definition of the necessary
    steps to reduce them. Regional weather records are still
    evaluated with the help of the local gold mining company,
    which proved to have the only reliable rainfall records,
    dating back to 1939.

    Early warning systems were improved and newly installed
    in the community of Waspam in the border region next to
    Honduras as well as in the pacific community of Puerto
    Cabezas,
    to allow for fast communication and information
    among a total of 70 radio stations. The activities included
    the installation of new equipment and a communication platform as well as hands-on training of about 150 persons
    on how to use a radio transmitter. The early warning systems
    substantially improved the preparedness and speed of evacuation
    measures during the 2005 hurricanes Wilma and Beta.

    These pilot projects, which were discussed with the
    authorities
    at the national and regional level in bilateral
    meetings and in workshops, have been integrated into
    GTZ’s long-term Programme for Sustainable Resource
    Management and Entrepreneurial Capacity Building
    (MASRENACE), which started in Nicaragua during the
    same period.

    Project Details
    Cofinancing Total:
    n/a
    File(s):
    GTZ Factsheet • Adaptation to Climate Risks in Nicaragua
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