high risk group

Because of their own physical, social and cultural characteristics, some groups may be more vulnerable to disasters and climate change.

2.3. 1 persons with disabilities

Physical and mental disorders refer to mental and physical injuries that limit a person's cognitive ability, mobility and activity ability. Women, men and children with physical and mental disabilities are usually excluded from the daily life of the community, because they lack the consciousness of integrating into the collective activities of the community, or because other members of the community think that they are unable to participate in community activities. Because they were not invited to participate in G's discussion on the risks faced by the community, they could not help determine the risk reduction and adaptation measures for the disabled.

People with limited cognitive ability are particularly vulnerable to sudden disasters. For example, they may not fully understand the potential significance of tsunami warning signals and may not be able to evacuate safely in time. For example, when the shortage of water resources intensifies, people with poor mobility may be very vulnerable because they can't get more distant water sources.

All disabled people have the ability to participate in activities that benefit themselves and others. In many traditional habits, physically disabled women stay at home for a long time to take care of their children. In this way, they have the ability to educate their children about risks and measures to reduce them. Men and women with mobility difficulties can also collect information and disseminate it in a wider community, such as precipitation monitoring or early warning information.

Box 2.3 contains examples of disaster risk management and climate change adaptation planning for people with disabilities.

Establish a neighborhood mutual aid network for the mentally and physically disabled, and help them with evacuation, distribution of relief supplies and other disaster risk management activities.

Arrange water wells and rescue distribution points near people with mobility difficulties.

Provide efficient stoves for family members with mobility difficulties.

When the traditional livelihood activities of the disabled face the risk of disasters or climate change, they are provided with diversified livelihood subsidies and training.

2.3.2 Patients with chronic diseases

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and chronic diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria play an important role in how families and communities are affected by disaster risks. For example, affected families (including families with elderly people and children) may lack labor or economic input needed to prevent floods, or it is difficult to recover from drought due to the pressure of disease, poverty and extra expenses such as medical care or funeral for adults at home. For the same reason, children in affected families may suffer from malnutrition and poor health, so they are particularly vulnerable to diseases that are more prevalent under climate change.

When the disaster destroys or destroys the patient's service system, HIV and HIV carriers can no longer get good treatment. If the destruction continues, it may further aggravate the spread of the virus, and it will be difficult for patients with chronic diseases to obtain the drugs they rely on.

Chronic diseases also affect the ability of families and communities to adapt to climate change. Without income security, they will refuse to innovate or diversify their livelihood because they think the risk of innovation failure is greater than the risk they face every day. Children from families affected by chronic diseases cannot go to school because they need to take care of their families or work, and may have a low education level. Based on the above reasons, their future income may be lower and their chances of survival will be reduced.

Box 2.4 contains examples of disaster risk management and climate change adaptation planning for patients with chronic diseases.

Promote groups and families with other chronic diseases to participate in risk assessment, carry out climate knowledge and disaster reduction training, and participate in cooperative activities to reduce risks. Please refer to the practical list in Section 2.4 for the methods of promoting high-risk groups to participate in disaster risk management and climate change adaptation activities.

In the event of drought and other serious disasters, early intervention measures such as cash or food subsidies will be provided to affected families to prevent food shortages.

Design a reasonable way to release health information to reduce the risk of secondary infection in hazardous periods (such as floods and moving to temporary resettlement sites).

Ensure the physical maintenance and improvement of health facilities, and consult with medical staff to maintain the continuous service function of health facilities during disasters.

Issue an emergency plan for health facilities to ensure the continuous supply of medicines during disasters and climate stress.

2.3.3 Elderly people

Generally speaking, aging usually reduces their mobility and muscle strength, which makes it impossible for the elderly to do disaster prevention work. For example, measures such as improving the topography of residence to cope with flood disasters or closing windows with boards to reduce typhoon damage. Physical limitations may also prevent the elderly from taking some risk reduction and adaptation measures that require manual labor. For example, planting trees to reduce soil erosion around farmland. In addition, in an emergency, physical limitations may prevent them from taking risks in time.

Older people with poor health are more susceptible to diseases, such as malaria and cholera, which usually occur after disasters and are expected to become more common under climate change. In extreme weather events, the elderly are prone to diseases and related complications, and even death.

Many elderly people, especially female elderly people, are more dependent on family and community support physically, socially and emotionally. This community network is usually regarded as wealth, but without relevant efforts to strengthen it, it will be significantly weakened by migration, relocation, asset loss and other disasters, as well as climate change.

The elderly's understanding of the history, layout and topography of the community has become the wealth of the project and the community, and they may have an advantage in identifying other vulnerable groups. Some elderly people are more familiar with traditional coping measures and disaster reduction practices, such as community grain depots, water harvesting or crop interplanting, some of which can be improved and applied. Older women usually play an important role in caring for children, which can make productive young people invest more time and energy in new risk reduction or adaptation strategies.

Box 2.5 contains examples of disaster risk management and climate change adaptation planning for the elderly.

Establish a community network for elderly people living alone to help protect their houses and property from the threat of upcoming disasters (such as storms and floods).

Take the elderly as the object of health and hygiene support (giving materials such as sheets and chlorine for disinfection) to reduce their risk of poor health due to floods, relocation and other disasters.

Make emergency plans for health service personnel to ensure the continuity of services during and after disasters.

Promote the participation of the elderly in community risk assessment, knowledge sharing and decision-making process.

Let the elderly participate in the community early warning system, such as operating community radio stations, transmitting early warning and evacuation information, and recording water levels.

2.3.4 Aboriginal people

Most of the 300 million indigenous people in the world are in poverty and marginalization, and many indigenous people live in isolated areas far from the mainstream international market and the main economic and development core. Because their land ownership is usually controversial, it is easy to lack major infrastructure, such as roads, schools and sanitation facilities.

The economic poverty of some indigenous people is also accompanied by "lack of discourse power", that is, they are marginalized in the decision-making process of countries or regions that directly affect their lives. Dialect and cultural differences further isolate them from the public.

The fragile economic and political status of indigenous people makes them more vulnerable to disasters. In addition, the ecosystems on which their livelihood activities and basic needs depend are often located in high latitudes, humid tropical regions, desert and arid regions, polar regions and small islands, all of which are vulnerable to climate change.

However, through intergenerational knowledge transfer, the aborigines have realized and begun to take measures to adapt to the climate variability and local climate change for thousands of years. Their traditional coping strategies and related knowledge provide an important foundation for improving their resilience and adaptability, which can be strengthened under the favorable environment of respecting and carrying forward their rights.

Box 2.6 Examples of disaster risk management and climate change adaptation planning to strengthen the resilience of indigenous people.

Recognizing the collective and generational rights of indigenous peoples to territory and natural resources is the basis of livelihood security, cultural cognition and political influence.

Financial resources to promote the development of basic services are used in these areas.

Carry out education and publicity in appropriate media to popularize the causes and countermeasures of disasters and climate change risks.

Identify and share traditional mechanisms to cope with climate variability and natural disasters, encourage indigenous people to discuss within and between communities, and analyze the impact of traditional mechanisms in future climate change scenarios.

Promote access to non-indigenous scientific and technological knowledge.

Encourage them to participate in the regional early warning system through dialects and popular cultural habits.

Case study: vegetable garden disaster risk management learning action 24 pages

Project location: Kingdom of Lesotho

Project implementer: Catholic Relief Society

Even in areas where crops have met people's energy needs, a diversified diet is very important for maintaining health and resisting external shocks (such as diseases or staged grain failures). In many parts of the world, the diversity and nutritional content of traditional diets are very low, relying too much on starchy foods such as corn or cassava, with only one or two leafy vegetables, and occasionally eating some protein foods (usually plant protein). In addition, vegetables are usually very seasonal, and micronutrients in vegetables cannot be supplied all year round.

80% of the cultivated land in the world is rain-fed agriculture. If there is a drought, tens of millions of people in South Africa alone will need food aid. As climate change increases the changes of precipitation and other meteorological patterns, many parts of the world may suffer more droughts, floods, crop yield changes and more pests or species. These arid areas need not only planting methods to increase crop yield, but also some strategies to improve the access of vulnerable groups to water resources.

Since Lesotho is mainly a source of fresh water, the impact of climate change on the country will have a far-reaching impact on the supply of fresh water resources in the whole region. The arid areas extend to the Atlantic basin through South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. Lesotho has long been affected by climate change and related disasters. In this climate, the people of Lesotho have gradually formed a series of coping mechanisms to effectively protect their lives. However, climate change in recent years has significantly increased the frequency, intensity and duration of climate shocks, shortened the time for people to recover from the last event, and even had no time to recover.

From 2005 to 2008, the South African Food Emergency Project, co-funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Food for Peace, was launched in Lesotho to promote vulnerable people who lack food to build family gardens, including "keyhole" gardens, as a way to improve their families' resistance to external shocks (such as drought). Keyhole Garden is a circular building, with a diameter of 2m and a height of 1 m, which is made of existing local materials. The owner of the vegetable garden can work in the vegetable garden and save energy. Put a compost basket in the center of the keyhole, and use the washed dishes and clothes or recycled water after bathing to irrigate through the basket, saving water and labor for collecting other irrigation water. Cover the basket with thatch, reeds or other things to help filter the chemicals in soap and detergent. On the one hand, building organic mulch in vegetable garden can increase soil nutrients and entropy; On the other hand, "keyhole" vegetable garden can also maintain its output in cold and dry winter. The completed vegetable garden only needs a little maintenance and extra investment (such as fertilizer). In addition, the layered design helps to keep the vegetable garden moist, so the water consumption for vegetable cultivation is very small.

"keyhole" vegetable garden has multiple advantages in improving the disaster resistance of poor families: saving labor; Maintain moisture in arid and semi-arid climate conditions; Increase soil nutrients; Improve nutrition; Realize the perennial planting of vegetables; Reduce additional investment; Sell surplus products to increase income.

Community participation in vegetable garden construction helps people collect materials and build the main structure of vegetable garden. In Lesotho, community members built vegetable gardens for the poorest people and continued to build vegetable gardens for vulnerable families, which benefited the whole community. The community participated in the whole process of "keyhole" vegetable garden construction, including the site selection, building materials collection and vegetable garden construction, which strengthened the participation and action consciousness of endangered people. Community members learn to build and maintain vegetable gardens so that they can continue to build other vegetable gardens according to their own wishes.

Keyhole vegetable garden improves the adaptability of small farmers to water shortage, so it plays an important role in disaster risk management and provides the possibility for promoting vegetable variety diversification and economic income generation. This method is very successful in Lesotho and widely used. Although this method has great potential in improving the resilience of families in Africa and other regions, it has not been widely recognized and popularized at present.

In view of the success of keyhole vegetable garden in reducing the vulnerability of families to external shocks (such as drought), it ensures the food security of people with physical limitations (such as the elderly, teenagers, HIV/AIDS carriers and the disabled). In 20 12, CRS started a project to extend the adaptive strategy of learning and testing to other parts of the world. At the beginning of the project, professional scholars and scientists from non-governmental organizations, the United Nations, local governments and 65,438+07 countries * * learned the experience of Lesotho method and participated in the construction of "keyhole" vegetable garden, brainstorming on how to apply this measure in their own countries; Discuss locally available materials, such as using bamboo as the external wall instead of stones used in Lesotho; Improve the design of suburbs and crowded areas such as settlements for internally displaced persons or refugee camps.

The output of this project includes a practitioner's manual and a short training film, which was published in August 20 12. Both submissions suggested local adaptation measures and provided examples of good practices.

The project shows that: ① there are many localized adaptation measures, and similar family gardens can reduce the disaster risk and enhance the adaptability to climate change; ② Although adaptation is not easy, according to Lesotho's experience, the methodology of improving the adaptability to climate change is worth exploring; (3) It is of great significance to select project beneficiaries in a participatory way and add sustainability indicators to the screening criteria of objectives and partners; ④ Promote keyhole vegetable garden in the comprehensive development project of food security and disaster risk management.

Catholic Relief Society of Lesotho widely promotes "keyhole" vegetable gardens to solve the food and nutrition problems of other vulnerable groups, including orphans, vulnerable children and HIV carriers.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Are there any other high-risk groups? If so, how to consider their special needs and rights?

Due to differences in economic, social, material, cultural and political factors, some groups face different risks. There are also some high-risk groups, including religious minorities, ethnic minorities, refugees, displaced persons, illegal immigrants, people at the bottom of society and vagrants, and people with non-traditional sexual orientation.

Use existing knowledge to identify potential high-risk groups and follow the steps provided in the following practical list to ensure that they are fully considered in the whole project and participate in the project activities appropriately.

Tools and resources

For more information and links, refer to the Tools and Resources page 122.