Exercise: ‘Peakland’ case study Climate Training Kit Module 2D: Communities and climate change

A case from Peakland Community at risk Exercise / facilitator-led disccussion A watershed – with a downstream community Climate trends and projections indicate that rain events are becoming more intense, and will continue to do so in the future Met office information: Rainfall events are already becoming more intense – and projected to become worse over the next decades

Photos: Danish Red Cross Streamville in Peakland Village established 15 years ago by landless settlers from various parts of Peakland Village still expanding, forcing newcomers to settle in the risk zone Short historic calender on disaster events Short ”traditional knowledge” on signs of flood risk, but some aware of ’dark mountain clouds’ No early warning system, apart from general weather forecasts – complex and not widely used No disaster preparedness and evacuation planning Photos: Danish Red Cross A VCA in the community revealed a range of facts (listed on slide)

In addition to the VCA information, you, as the community facilitator, have done some homework to try understand the physical landscape: The community lies at the confluence of two rivers – the largest comes from a small, circular watershed just 10 km upstream, and the steep hills in that watershed are largely denuded. This is the recipe for fast flash floods – and in case an unprecedented intense rainfall occurs, the water may come very fast, and exceed known levels (and remember: the community has no long historical memory on flood levels to draw upon).

Exercise on the Streamville case You are the facilitator, helping to draft the ”Community Risk Reduction Plan” (CRRP) based on VCA and secondary information: How would you communicate that the intensity of rainfall is increasing, therefore giving heightened risks of flash floods, so that this knowledge can influence the CRRP? What early action measures could the community (and Red Cross volunteers) take based on the existing types of early warning information (weather forecasts and ”dark clouds”)? What could the NS do at higher levels (province, national) to promote better weather forecast messaging? Either: 1. let the questions be handled in groups - 20 minutes and plenary feedback Or 2: facilitate a plenary discussion around the questions