Report on climate smart disaster risk reduction interventions in agriculture sector - flood hazard

Due to the distinct climatic variability across the Asian continent and its geophysical setting, the majority of countries on the Asian continent are subject to natural disasters. The frequency of these extreme events, especially the hydro-meteorological events, has shown an increasing trend. The present study explores the consequences of these extreme events in three countries of the Asian region, namely: Thailand, Nepal and Sri Lanka which have distinct geographical settings. These three countries are subject to frequent natural disasters, especially floods and droughts, due to their respective geographical exposure and climatic regime, which in turn, result in disastrous consequences of varying degrees, affecting the agricultural sector of the respective countries.

One of the major shortfalls of conventional disaster management strategies is a lack of adequate blends of climatic information on the nature of future climate risks and post-disaster reconstruction processes or modalities which eventually lead to an increased risk of disaster rather than a decrease. The present initiative looks into an entire gamut of flood mitigation interventions in the agricultural sector in the three countries of intervention starting from floodplain management, land treatment, flood modification measures and agronomic practices to Integrated Water Resource Management. One of the unique recommendations is a climate inclusive, flood early warning system in these countries which is generally lacking. Low-income countries and small islands and their rural communities (whose main livelihood is agriculture in the flood-plain and low-lying areas) are the most endangered communities by flood hazards. Environmental degradation and socio-economic factors like poverty and urban population growth, contribute additionality to the vulnerability by flood hazards of the communities in these three countries where a Flood Early Warning System could make a paradigm shift in community resilience regarding flood hazard.