Opportunities in master and local planning for resilient rural settlement in Zimbabwe
2021
Chirisa, Innocent
With a predicted increase in climate change and its impacts across the globe, the mainstreaming of disaster management in development planning forms the key in preserving development gains. Likewise, the level of disaster risk adaptiveness determines the threats of hazardous events. This article seeks to explore the potential for embracing rural local development plans/local development planning as a tool for fostering disaster resilience in Zimbabwe. Thus, the major question is, “how can local development plans be used as tools for mainstreaming disaster management for disaster resilience in rural Zimbabwe?” In answering this question, the study employs literature review using case studies drawn from experiences in countries across the globe. The results were analysed using thematic analysis. Results indicate that local development plans can successful be used for improving disaster risk adaptiveness through land-use zoning, infrastructure and building codes, capital budgeting among other dimensions. Furthermore, based on the demonstrated failure and costs of contingency disaster management over three decades. However, the successful mainstreaming of disaster management in local development planning demands a number of factors to be accounted for. These factors include institutional capacity building, building political will for long-term investment in disaster adaptiveness as opposed to relief and also cultural transformation where development planners have to see disaster management as a corner stone to delivering their overall rural development targets rather than view it as separate from development. Furthermore, the acceptability of policies to local knowledge systems and communities is critical.
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