Participatory approach for integrated basin planning with focus on disaster risk reduction : the case of the Limpopo river

This paper defends the idea that a participatory approach is a suitable method for basin planning integrating both water and land aspects. Assertions made are based on scientific literature review and corroborated by field experience and research carried out in the Limpopo River basin, a transboundary river located in southern Africa which is affected by periodical floods. The paper explains how a basin strategic plan can be drafted and disaster risk reduction strategies derived by combining different types of activities using a bottom-up approach, despite an institutional context which operates through traditional top-down mechanisms. In particular, the "Living with Floods" experience in the lower Limpopo River, in Mozambique, is described as a concrete example of a disaster adaptation measure resulting from a participatory planning exercise. In conclusion, the adopted method and obtained results are discussed and recommendations are formulated for potential replication in similar contexts of the developing world

Flood analysis of the Limpopo River basin through past evolution reconstruction and a geomorphological approach

This research reconstructs the past evolution of the Limpopo River, a transboundary system located in southeastern Africa, and describes its geomorphological settings through a literature review and field work activities, with the aim of analysing flood hazard in the basin. Major changes have occurred since the late Jurassic-early Cretaceous period due to successive tectonic events. The paper demonstrates that the apparently abandoned drainage conformation of the palaeo-Limpopo in the upper and middle stretches of the river today constitutes preferential flood-prone areas in the case of major rainfall events. An important palaeo-delta is identified in the lower Limpopo, which imposes a particular drainage pattern onto the floodplain in Mozambique and influences the flood dynamics at present. The adopted method is helpful in determining flood hazard in a data-scarce area showing complex fluvial dynamics, and allows for the identification of unsuitable locations for human settlements

Resilience Planning Under Information Scarcity in Fast Growing African Cities and Towns: The CityRAP Approach

Urban planners seeking to enhance resilience contend with the complexity of interdependent systems and severe gaps in data and information. This complexity-capacity gap is most evident in smaller, rapidly growing cities. Experience in Africa shows these are also the cities where most risk is accruing and where the majority of population growth is felt. Bridging this gap to build resilience requires new decision-support tools that can operate on data that is not comprehensive but good enough. This paper examines the prospect for such a generation of tools to enable decisions that can build resilience that also enhance inclusive decision-making processes. It draws from the experience of the City Resilience Action Planning Tool, developed by UN-Habitat and shows how this or other similar tools can: build local government capacity; attract additional investment; contribute to longer-term processes of legislative reform; generate cooperation between communities and local government, and; work across power dynamics and open space for further collaboration

Urban Resilience Building in Fast-growing African Cities

Small- and medium-sized cities and towns in sub-Saharan Africa are growing fast and accumulating risks. Local governments seek to build the resilience of their city in conditions of complex interdependent urban systems and gaps in data and information. Technical and financial capacity issues often lead to them resorting to external expertise, which shifts the decision-making power away from the citizenry and elected leaders. To capacitate cities to lead their own resilience-building processes, new decision-support tools are required that can operate on data that are good enough and can enhance inclusive decision-making processes and local ownership. This briefing draws from the experience of the City Resilience Action Planning (CityRAP) Tool developed by UN-Habitat, including within the Urban Africa Risk Knowledge (Urban ARK) programme. The tool was implemented in 20 cities spread over nine countries in sub-Saharan Africa between 2015 and 2018

The Spatial Development Framework to facilitate urban management in countries with weak planning systems

There is an urgent need to develop strategic spatial planning methods adapted to the conditions of countries with weak planning systems facing rapid urbanization. These methods should allow evaluating the territorial qualities of the system of cities and to meaningfully guiding the implementation of national urban policies or strategies. In this context, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UNHabitat) has developed the Spatial Development Framework (SDF) method, which is presented here for the first time, after having been tested in different countries. The SDF method helps to develop an understanding of the roles and inter-linkages of various urban settlements in the territory and to frame the territorial structure in a context of fluidity and uncertainty typical of countries facing uncontrolled urbanization. The method is then discussed and conclusions for the way forward are drawn