Expert dialogue meetings Santa Leopoldina and Manaus, Brazil

In cooperation with the Secretariat of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, (UN-ISDR), Connective Cities – the international community of practice for sustainable urban development – organised two expert dialogue events on Capacity Building and Capacity Development for Resilience. The meetings, which were held from 27 to 29 October and 25 to 27 November 2015, involved the three Brazilian municipalities of Curitiba, Manaus and Santa Leopoldina, and representatives of the Flood Protection Centre of the Cologne municipal wastewater utility.

These meetings were a continuation of the previous dialogue events held in Cologne and Curitiba on flood management, and on flood vulnerability and risk analysis for local flood management planning. The two events involved intensive exchange and sharing of lessons learned through peer-to-peer consulting, specialised presentations and field trips. Topics jointly discussed included flood risk management, developing infrastructure projects for risk reduction, improving flood risk analysis and early warning and alert systems. 
At the two previous events, participants from the civil defence departments of Manaus, Curitiba and Santa Leopoldina, and the Cologne municipal wastewater utility, developed a concept for an expert meeting on the topic of resilience.

Following the meeting in Manaus Dr Marlene Willkomm, Deputy Director of the Flood Protection Centre of the Cologne municipal wastewater utility, talked to Connective Cities about what she had learned and the impressions she had gained during the event.

Q: What were your reasons for attending the dialogue event?

A: Meetings like this are important, not only nationally but also internationally, in order to find out where we stand, what others are doing, what others are perhaps doing better, and what we can learn from them and put into practice ourselves. It doesn't matter where you live; we all face the same challenges, such as low financial resources or a lack of awareness regarding flood protection issues among citizens, as well as policymakers and administrators.

Q: What did you learn from the meeting? What ideas and solutions will you be taking away with you?

A: What I'll be taking away is the fact that in many areas of flood protection, our colleagues in Brazil are very advanced in some local settings. The city of Manaus, for example, has a caretaker. That's a person who among other things permanently goes about raising awareness, making contacts and showing that disaster risk management is important. At the municipal wastewater utility in Cologne we also play a 'caretaker' role. When the city government is planning something, they always ask for our assessment regarding flooding or torrential rainfall. That works very well, but getting our recommendations systematically integrated into planning and coordination processes is often itself a long-term process.
What also impressed me was the way the local authority in Manaus works closely with the population, and treats them as equals. Decisions are taken jointly with citizens, because the municipality has recognised that the population's support is essential if projects are to work sustainably. Young people in particular are involved.
The meeting showed me that although there are still many challenges to be faced in flood management in Brazil, it was nevertheless nice to see how far Manaus for instance has already come.

Q: Have you already put any of the ideas you got from the meeting into practice in Cologne, or are you planning to do so?

A: It's rather the case that we in Cologne were already doing a lot of the things which are now being done in Manaus. I would estimate that Germany is about 20 years ahead of Brazil in terms of flood protection.
Nonetheless, we at the municipal wastewater utility did gain some fresh ideas, for instance concerning greater citizen participation and raising popular awareness. It is more difficult to raise awareness in this way in Germany than it is in Manaus, because Manaus is constantly affected by various disasters. Our 'problem' is that flooding is not a regularly recurring event. In Germany people do not perform regular drills teaching them what to do in case of flooding or an earthquake. We at the municipal wastewater utility do however regularly conduct campaigns and actions with citizens' initiatives, and offer flood-themed tours free of charge. In Cologne we also have the water forum, which has a water school – the 'Villa Öki' – which is attended by numerous school groups. There, schoolchildren learn all about the water cycle – not just flooding, but also wastewater and rainfall, etc.

Q: What did the other participants learn from the dialogue event?

A: We really did share a great deal, for instance on the topic of risk mapping. Manaus and Cologne use the same series of maps. Risk maps of this kind are essential. You first of all need to identify all the risks or hazards, and work out how badly people are affected at which points. 
Another topic was illegal construction in risk-prone areas. Manaus is currently pursuing an ecological, economic and social approach to train the inhabitants of such high-risk areas. The focus is on training women and children. One aim is to strengthen the population's awareness of solid waste management and wastewater treatment. Many of the inhabitants are accustomed to throwing their waste into the river, and to the river withstanding this. In a megacity like Manaus, however, this cannot work sustainably.

Q: Did the other participants present any other projects?

A: A wide variety of projects and approaches were presented. One project in Manaus, for example, is trying to persuade people not to build too close to the river, which is a high-risk area. One activity of the project involves cultivating fields along the river, thus keeping illegal construction at bay. At the same time this creates an income-generating opportunity for the population. In a neighbourhood that we visited, four families were already making a living from this. Parks, football fields and running tracks are also being established right by the river. These need to be maintained, of course, but communities in the neighbourhoods concerned have assumed responsibility for this, and these facilities are now running themselves as a result. We also saw that when houses are built and nothing new is put up in their place, people resettle the land right away.
Another project in Manaus aims to motivate people to abandon the huts they built close to the river and move elsewhere. In return they receive a new home free of charge in a low-risk zone of the city. Another option is for people to move to a dwelling in a safe area, and then receive rental support from the city. These projects create various incentives that prevent people from having to continue living close to the river, where they are exposed to the risk of flooding.
Manaus also pursues the approach of providing emergency shelters. When people's houses are destroyed by flooding or landslides, volunteers put up emergency shelters for them. The wooden shelters are largely prefabricated: the wood is already cut to size, and nails are provided. In an emergency, the huts can be put up in one day. People then move in to these temporary shelters, where they often continue living on a long-term basis. Most of the funding for such projects comes from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). 
I had the feeling that that other Brazilian participants were able to learn a great deal from Manaus and take plenty of ideas away with them.

Q: Did the meeting and the advice you gave lead to any projects being implemented in Manaus or Santa Leopoldina?

A: All the participants gained plenty of ideas, which they are now trying to put into practice. Santa Leopoldina, for example, is currently pursuing various approaches to try and make people aware of the fact that they need disaster risk management, and especially flood protection, in their municipality.

Q: What surprised you during the meeting?

A: Two things surprised me overall: how well disaster risk management has already been operationalised there, and the number of projects being implemented.

Q: Would you recommend these dialogue events to other people?

A: Yes, I certainly would. Cologne is well placed in this respect. We at the municipal wastewater utility are glad to make our knowledge available to others across Germany and worldwide by offering advice within this kind of framework. In return, we are currently thinking about whether there are any issues on which we'd like to ask others for their inputs.

Thanks you for talking to us.