Integrating disaster and climate change in risk sensitive land use planning

Abstract

Nepal is prone to a range of disasters caused by natural hazards, including floods, landslides, fires, earthquakes, and disease outbreaks. Climate change has magnified the current problems of drought, forest fires, flooding, and landslides. Considering the increasing vulnerability of communities to natural hazards and climate change, there is an urgent need to develop land use plans that focus on integrating potential disaster and climate change risks and build the resilience of cities in the present context. Among different tools of disaster risk reduction and management, Risk Sensitive Land Use Plan (RSLUP) has been identified as a vital instrument that plays an important role in meeting the sustainable development goal of making cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable by identifying hazard risk-prone areas in which to avoid or divert the development activities. As Nepalese municipalities are being urbanized and prone to a range of natural disasters, it is imperative that these municipalities need to prepare RSLUP based on the multi-hazard risk assessment. This chapter aims to highlight the importance of integrating disaster and climate change risks in land use plan and legislation and what RSLUP process and guideline needs to follow in increasing the resilience of cities in Nepal.