The CDKN supported intervention in Puri district overall objective was to make recommendations on how to incorporate CCA-DRR concerns in the existing DDMPs and DPs. The DDMP of Puri was typically based on past experiences. Under this intervention, a forward looking approach was undertaken which incorporated the changes in the nature of disasters due to changing climate.

These interventions helped immensely; and the key highlights and takeaways included:

• Overwhelming participation and level of engagement of officials
• Better understanding of intra and inter-sectoral vulnerability of key infrastructural assets and services
• Generation of technical and scientific knowledge on climate thresholds through departmental consultations
•  Identification of gaps in coordination and capacities that influence sectoral vulnerabilities
• Assessment of technical, organizational, financial and managerial requirements of the line departments
• Up gradation of the DDMP through qualitative & quantitative findings of SLDs and community consultations
• Integration of CCA-DRR components in district disaster management and departmental developmental plan
• Intervention in line with SFDRR, SDGs and the Paris Agreement, focusing on multi-hazard, multi-sectoral CCA-DRR practices with involvement of communities in disaster management planning and putting focus on softer options for mitigation and resilience
• Climate Smart DDMP of Puri which puts focus on gender as a cross cutting issue, can be used as a model DDMP for other 30 districts of Odisha and scaled-up at national level.
• Climate analysis and climate threshold assessment of each department will help in risk management in future

The challenges faced include:

• Lack of capacities at departmental level to understand the concepts of CCA-DRR because of which they hardly contribute in formation of DDMP
• Lack of sensitization of state and sub-national level departments on international and national commitments and their key respective roles in integration & implementation
• Problems in fund allocations after dissolution of Planning Commission and formation of new Niti Ayog
• Inter-departmental convergence areas not properly identified at sub-national and state level, thus, not included by the departments in their annual developmental plan
• Experience gained through consultation and implementation process at district level hardly reaches the state level (vertical gap)
• Unavailability of ground level data at district level
• Prediction of cyclone, the most prominent disaster is difficult
• Majority of actions in DDMP seem to be response centric, therefore, role of departmental developmental activities in pre and post disaster phase are mostly ambiguous

This is an excerpt from a revised DDMP,  formulated with the integration of CCA-DRR concerns, undertaken by  Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG) on a CDKN supported intervention in Puri district of Odisha, for Integrating Climate Change Concerns into Disaster Management and Development Planning .

Blog 1: Insights_Puri, Odisha: Department wise key recommendations for CCA-DRR integration

Blog 2: Insights_Puri, Odisha: Agriculture Livestock & Fisheries departments key recommendations for CCA-DRR integration