Building Resilience: Essential for Climate Change Adaptation

India is highly exposed to disasters and climate events, at times recurrent and multiple, such as earthquake, floods, cyclone, landslides and drought. Urban areas are more exposed to fire hazards besides other hydro-geological disasters. Melting snow and glaciers, changing landscape and biodiversity, loss of water bodies, temperature fluctuation, not only have impact on food, health, and potable water but also affects children, their families and communities to further shocks and stresses.

The impact of climate change and environmental degradation on children, girls and boys, is yet to be fully understood. However, available literature and reports show that children may become more susceptible to hunger, vector and bacteria borne diseases, unable to access school due to floods, landslides and heavy rains, increased vulnerability and risk to trafficking, child labour, child marriage and gender based violence.

Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation is a priority area for Bal Raksha Bharat and through its programmes strives to address the impact of frequent and protracted climate and disaster risks by building resilience among marginalized children, families and communities, particularly women and girls.

The approach is to strengthen knowledge and capacity of communities by meaningfully engaging with children, families and community members, particularly women and girls, towards climate and disaster hazard, risk awareness and building resilience skills. Adopt children and community led interventions in building and conserving community assets such as watershed, local biodiversity, local forests, through Nature-Based Solutions. Engage and collaborate with urban and rural local governance bodies on climate adaptation plans and practices which are child-centered and gender inclusive through meaningful participation and engagement of children. Partner with schools in urban geographies to demonstrate participatory environment conservation action by children.

Work closely with communities to adapt to protracted disaster and climate events by providing livelihoods interventions for the most climate and disaster risk exposed families, particularly vulnerable women with children will be developed. Use technology for early warning systems, greener alternate energy, green jobs and entrepreneurships.