Disclaimer:
Please be aware that the content herein has not been peer reviewed. It consists of personal reflections, insights, and learnings of the contributor(s). It may not be exhaustive, nor does it aim to be authoritative knowledge.
Title
Please provide a name for your action learning plan.
Leveraging Collective Intelligence for CCA and DRR in Maldives
Challenge statement
Challenge type: If you are working on multiple challenges, please indicate if this is your "big bet" or "exploratory" challenge.
Please note: we ask you to only submit a maximum of 3 challenges - 1x Big Bet, 2x Exploratory. Each challenge must be submitted individually.
BIG BET
Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)
Our challenge is that the Maldives, is among the most vulnerable countries in the world with respect to the impacts of climate change but the communities feel disempowered to act
Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?
With a population of 533,900 dispersed across over 200 small islands, and with over 80% of total land area is less than 1 meter above mean sea level, the Maldives, is among the most vulnerable countries in the world with respect to the impacts of climate change.
The entire nation is facing the effects related to sea level rising causing coastal erosion and shrinking the shorelines gradually. Natural disasters such as flooding, tidal waves and swells have become more frequent, consequently, they contaminate the freshwater lens, and harm crop yields, homes and infrastructure. The communities and critical infrastructure located within proximity to the shore are especially vulnerable
From our discovery phase research, the main learning was that, community feels unprepared and helpless to act in the event of a sudden disaster. In case of the slow onset effects of sea level rise such as sea level rise, communities feel unempowered to act.
Researching on the influencing stakeholders revealed that most island councils do not yet have a climate change adaptation plan or a localized disaster response plan. The plans developed at the national level do not involve much community input and is not a one size fits all solution. Some councils had developed community-based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) plans years ago with assistance from UNDP and government, but these have not been updated.
Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.
climate-risk-country-profile-maldives.pdf (adb.org)
https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/SNC%20PDF_Resubmission.pdf
https://ndmc.gov.mv/
Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.
Stockholm 50+ consultations by UNDP in Laamu atoll https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqHWI6TlsNA&t=5s
Photos of Mangrove dying in Nolhivaram. Kandoo, caused by the intrusion of excessive saltwater into kandoo swamps due to global sea-level rise. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=594547504882666
Swells in Kurendhoo island Udha araa Kurendhoo ah bodu gehlumeh (avas.mv)
https://www.cen.uni-hamburg.de/en/about-cen/news/10-news-2021/2021-10-07-pm-malediven.html
https://mfr.mv/climate-change-and-environment/coastal-erosion-and-government-ignorance
Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?
By enabling Community feedback loops we will help the vulnerable island communities be more empowered to act on Climate Change adaptation and Disaster Risk Management.
Hundreds of islands. NDMA limited capacity
Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?
By enabling Community feedback loops we will help the vulnerable island communities be more empowered to act on Climate Change adaptation and Disaster Risk Management.
Partners
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the Parter:
Local Council
What sector does our partner belong to?
Government (&related)
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
Work with one local island/atoll council to develop island level adaptation plans and/or disaster management plans. Working with the government is not new or unusual to undo, however oftentimes they work together with national level partners and engagement with local government happens through these initiatives. We will work directly with local council and the local community
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Learning questions
Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?
1. We want to understand if combining citizen science with other data such as satellite data in is of value to the local councils and the community in formulating CCA and DRM plans. If yes
2. How might we develop a prototype together with the community to test this?
We need existing data from the council and other institutions in the island, and we need community support to engage them in citizen generated data collection.
To what stage(s) in the learning cycle does your learning question relate?
Explore, Test
Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
Collective intelligence: Blending official data (official statistics, satellite data and drone mapping) with citizen generated data (crowdmapping, crowdsourcing) to develop more localized and effective disaster response plans. Councils often rely on traditional townhall meeting which has limited participation from the wider community. Additionally official data from different institutions (health, utilities etc) are rarely exchanged or used in local planning.
Prototyping: develop a low fidelity prototype and test most effective means to collect data and input from the community. A prototype will help in gaining feedback fast iterate to meet the needs of the community and council, while traditionally the councils receive feedback once fully fledge pans and policies are rolled out.
Gamification: Using gamification to engage with the local community in developing plans and mobilize action. More meaningful engagement with community and hopefully engage vulnerable groups like women, youth and elderly and children.
Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
Geospatial data: Satellite imagery and Multispectral aerial images from drones to generate high resolution land cover maps.
Citizen generated data: We will generate localized data and community input for CBDRM through crowdsourcing, crowd mapping and other CI methods.
Closing
Early leads to grow: Think about the possible grow phase for this challenge - who might benefit from your work on this challenge or who might be the champions in your country that you should inform or collaborate with early on to help you grow this challenge?
Under the SIDS Joint Program, UNDP is implementing a prooject with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Local Government Authority (LGA) to develop subnational capacities in CCA and DRR. If we can develop a prototype of a method or tool that enables community feedback in these processes and demonstrate our value proposition through one island level plan developed from the process, then there is potential to scale this in the rest of the 200 inhabited islands of Maldives through the LGA and NDMA work.
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11Sustainable cities and communities
13Climate action
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