CITIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE INITIATIVE BATTICALOA, SRI LANKA: CLIMATE CHANGE VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT Batticaloa, Sri Lanka: Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Batticaloa, Sri Lanka: Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Full Report on Climate Change Vulnerability in Batticaloa Municipal Council Research, Analysis, Findings and Recommendations December 2011 1 | P a g e Batticaloa, Sri Lanka: Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Batticaloa, Sri Lanka: Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Copyright © United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) First published: January 2013 United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) P.O. Box 30030, GPO Nairobi 00100, Kenya Tel: 254-020-7623120 (Central Office) Website: www.unhabitat.org DISCLAIMER The designations employed and the presentation of material in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries, or regarding its economic system or degree of development. The analysis conclusions and recommendations of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme or its Governing Council. All photos © UN-Habitat / University of Moratuwa ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Funding: Government of Norway, United Nations Development Account (7th Tranche) Principal author: PKS Mahanama Other authors: Chethika Abenayake and Amila Jayasinghe Contributors: Project Consultancy Unit, Faculty of Architecture, University of Moratuwa, Laxman Perera, Fahmy Ismail; Her Worship Mayor of Batticaloa, Sivageeththa Prabaharan; Municipal Commissioner, Mr K Sivanathan; Ministry of Health Batticaloa. Dr Ms F R Ranjan. Reviewers: Chris Radford, Bernhard Barth Coordinators: Chris Radford Editor: Jessica Pelham 2 | P a g e Batticaloa, Sri Lanka: Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Contents Page Number 1. Introduction 04 2. Phase One - Mobilization 06 2.1. Step: 01 Brief L/As and DSD on Climate Change 06 2.2. Step: 02 Mobilize Assessment Team 11 2.3. Step: 03 Field Reconnaissance Survey 12 2.4. Step: 04 Agree On Assessment Purpose and Scope 16 2.5. Step: 05 Stakeholder Mapping 17 3. Phase Two – Data Collection 22 3.1. Step: 06 Secondary Data Collection 24 3.2. Step: 07 Mobilize Field Survey 24 3.3. Step: 08 Primary Data Collection 24 4. Phase Three - Assessment 26 4.1. Step: 09 Identify Exposure 27 4.2. Step: 10 Elements-at-Risk Mapping 43 4.3. Step: 11 Define Sensitivity 54 4.4. Step: 12 Identify Adaptive Capacity 63 4.5. Step: 13 Identification of Hotspots 66 5. Phase Four – Validation & Presentation 76 5.1. Step: 14 Consolidate Findings 76 5.2. Step: 15 City Validation Meeting 77 5.3. Step: 16 Awareness and Discussion 78 3 | P a g e Batticaloa, Sri Lanka: Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment 1. INTRODUCTION This vulnerability assessment follows a toolkit based on the Sorsogon City, Philippines’ experience in a Participatory Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment. This is a participatory process of selected stakeholders, which builds the citizens’ capability to address city vulnerability to climate change scenarios and to develop adaptation strategies. Some of the steps in the original methodology have been modified to suit local conditions of the Batticaloa Municipal Council (BMC) area. The main objective of this vulnerability assessment is to estimate local area vulnerability to potential climate change impacts and provide a context for local government decision-makers to develop local climate change adaptation and mitigation plans in response to the V&AA results. This study follows the same concept definitions adopted in the Sorsogon City Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation (V&AA) report. Interpretations of key concepts are mentioned below for reference purposes. Climate Change refers to any change in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or because of human activity. Vulnerability is the degree to which a system is susceptible to, or unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes. Vulnerability is a function of the character, magnitude, and rate of climate variation to which a system is exposed, its sensitivity, and its adaptive capacity. Adaptation is an adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm of exploits beneficial opportunities (Third Assessment Report, Working Group II). Exposure is what is at risk from climate change (e.g. population, resources, property) and the change in climate itself (e.g. sea level rise, temperature, precipitation, extreme events). Sensitivity is the biophysical effect (e.g. flooding, strong winds, land inundation, etc) of climate change which also considers the socioeconomic context of the system being assessed. Adaptive Capacity is the ability of a system to adjust to climate change (including climate variability and extremes) to moderate potential damages, to take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with the consequences. The IPCC Third Assessment Report outlines that it is a function of wealth, technology, institutions, information, infrastructure, and “social capital”. 4 | P a g e Batticaloa, Sri Lanka: Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment This report explains the overall process flow of a participatory vulnerability assessment with a description for each step and respective findings. Some of these initial steps which had briefly described in the inception report have been modified during this process. OVERALL PROCESS FLOW Phase One – Mobilization Step: 01 Step: 02 Step: 03 Step: 04 Step: 05 Brief L/As Mobilize Field Agree on Stakeholder and DSD on assessment reconnaissance assessment Mapping survey Climate team purpose and Change scope Phase Two – Data Collection Step: 06 Step: 07 Step: 08 Secondary Mobilize Primary Data Data field survey Collection Focus Group Discussions Collection Semi-Structured Interviews Field Mapping / GPS Survey Participatory Mapping Phase Three – Assessment Step: 09 Step: 10 Step: 11 Step: 12 Step: 13 Identify Element-at- Define Identify Identify Exposure Risk Sensitivity Adaptive Hotspots Mapping Capacity Delphi Technique Barnstorming (core team) Community based Assessment Phase Four – Validation and Presentation Step: 14 Step: 15 Step: 16 Consolidate City Awareness Findings Validation and Meeting Discussion Stakeholder workshop to share findings and knowledge on climate change impacts 5 | P a g e Batticaloa, Sri Lanka: Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Note: the pale yellow colour boxes illustrate the specific methods and techniques used for each step. 2. PHASE ONE - MOBILIZATION This phase is the pre-assessment stage to establish the entire assessment process. The process aims to influence local stakeholders, to obtain their acceptance and willingness in developing local response actions. Phase One – Mobilization Step: 1 Step: 2 Step: 3 Step: 4 Step: 5 Brief L/As Mobilize Field Agree on Stakeholder and DSD on assessment reconnaissance assessment Mapping Climate team survey purpose and Change scope There are five key steps in this phase which are described in following section. 2.1. Step: 01 Brief Local Authority (L/A) and Divisional Secretariat Division (DSD) on Climate Change This step introduced the project to the city’s key decision-makers. The main objectives of this project are: 1. To give an overview of vulnerability of cities to climate change. 2. To describe the importance of a Vulnerability Assessment in a Sustainable City Development Process. 3. To recognize the views of stakeholders regarding vulnerable groups in the local area. 4. To develop a partnership (to ensure the support and commitment of stakeholders to succeed in the above task) between stakeholders and the project team through a mutual understanding and interaction. This was the very first opportunity for Sri Lankan local authorities to take part in conducting a city level climate change study. It required a strong foundation to reconcile the aims and objectives, nature, and expected contributions and utility of this project. Accordingly, the two key administrative bodies of the local authority: Batticaloa Municipal Council (BMC) 6 | P a g e Batticaloa, Sri Lanka: Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Manmunei-North Divisional Secretariat Division (DSD) were selected for the initial discussion. Each key objective, and a brief explanation of each objective, is mentioned below. a. Climate change is a key concern of the Sri Lankan government and there have been a number of actions taken to address the impacts of climate change for the country. - The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted at the Rio summit in 1992 and the Government of Sri Lanka ratified the UNFCCC on 23 November, 1993. In order to achieve the objectives of the UNFCCC, a binding protocol was adopted at the 3rd Conference of Parties (CoP 3) by the UNFCCC held in Kyoto, Japan in 1997 and Sri Lanka acceded to the Kyoto Protocol on 3rd September 2002. - The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources as the national focal point for the UNFCCC, has the responsibility of implementing the provisions in the Convention and to take the initiative to pursue the decisions made at COP sessions and its subsidiary bodies. The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and UNFCCC have established Climate