Dear all,

I have the pleasure to send you the updated and improved version of the former Climate and DRR check, despite the name it always was much more than just a “check”. This new version integrates also the environment component and has new name CEDRIG: Climate Environment DRR Integration Guidance.

CEDRIG is available in English, French and Spanish. The guidances are attached below.

Aim
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) aims to systematically integrate climate, environment and disaster risk reduction (DRR) into development cooperation and humanitarian aid in order to enhance the overall resilience of systems and communities. The obligation regarding climate change is in line with the commitment of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) members on how to “work to better integrate climate change adaptation in development planning and assistance, both with their own governments and in activities undertaken with partner countries”. The obligation regarding DRR is in line with the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), which has also been signed by Switzerland. The so called Climate, Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction Integration Guidance CEDRIG is an approach to support SDC staff and their project partners in analysing whether existing and planned cooperation strategies, programmes and projects are at risk from disasters emanating from climate variability, climate change, environmental degradation and/or tectonic activities, as well as whether they have an impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and/or the environment.

This guidance is structured in two main parts:

›› Part I outlines the rationale and framework of SDC’s CEDRIG and provides the user with procedural information about the approach, key definitions and explanations as well as supporting materials.
(Concept and Support Material of CEDRIG)

›› Part II contains the practical handbook. This is the core part of the guidance and shall guide conduct SDC staff and operational partners through the process of how to screen and assess whether strategies, programmes or projects are at significant risk from disasters emanating from climate variability, climate change, environmental degradation and/or tectonic activities and whether they have a significant impact on GHG emissions and/or the environment. The handbook is a self-explanatory and hands-on guidance which leads the user through the process of CEDRIG.
(CEDRIG Handbook)



Rational of CEDRIG

Tackling disaster risk emanating from climate variability, climate change, environmental degradation and tectonic activities is widely perceived as one of the greatest challenges faced today. These risks significantly influence the resilience of systems and communities. Developing countries are particularly vulnerable to those disasters risks due to their high dependence on natural resources and limited coping capacity. Hence, climate change, environmental degradation and natural disasters pose an increasing challenge to meeting sustainable development goals and seriously undermine core development priorities such as poverty alleviation. The development and humanitarian aid community is also conscious on their projects’ impact on GHG emissions and the environment. During the last years, different guidelines and tools were elaborated by development agencies to help the integration of climate change adaptation / mitigation and DRR into development cooperation1. The integration of environmental concerns has normally been pursued separately. SDC has developed a joint approach which targets climate, environment and DRR jointly and is applicable to SDC specific procedures.

Disaster risk and its influencing factors
The risk perspective addresses the disaster risk emanating from climate variability, climate change, environmental degradation and/or tectonic activities. The key concept of the risk perspective is disaster risk, which results from a combination of different factors as outlined in Figure below.