Abstract

To date, much progress has been made in the field of disaster risk reduction (DRR) including climate change adaptation (CCA) in developing scientific knowledge and assessments, technical solutions and technological fixes as disaster response and preparedness mechanisms or adaptation measures. Efforts to mitigate impacts of natural hazards by national disaster management institutions usually focus on infrastructure development, such as constructing sea walls or breakwaters, or on high-tech solutions such as sophisticated early warning systems based on scientific data and modelling. The mainstream literature on hazards and disasters, and institutions responsible for DRR, had largely ignored local knowledge and practices until the mid-2000s (Dekens 2007a). In the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, knowledge that helped indigenous communities survive the disaster was widely publicised. This played an important role in bolstering ongoing efforts that value the significant role local knowledge and practices can play in reducing natural hazard risk and climate change impacts. This is in contrast to the fields of development and natural resource management, where the important role local knowledge and practices can play for development and environmental conservation has received increased attention since the 1970s, with donors and development agencies promoting the protection, use, dissemination, and transmission of such knowledge since the early 1990s (Agrawal 1995).