Integrating climate change concerns into disaster management planning: The case of Gorakhpur, India

This case study examines a CDKN-START action research programme in Gorakhpur, India, which aimed to integrate climate change considerations into the district's disaster management planning. The programme successfully moved beyond research recommendations to publish a climate-sensitive District Disaster Management Plan (DDMP) by utilizing 'Shared Learning Dialogues' and the Climate Resilience Framework to build capacity across government departments.

• Gorakhpur District in Eastern Uttar Pradesh is highly flood-prone, with data from the last 100 years indicating an increase in flood intensity and frequency, now recurring every 3–4 years. Approximately 20% of the population is affected by floods, and in some areas, flooding occurs annually.
• The existing District Disaster Management Plan (DDMP) created under India's Disaster Management Act (2005) primarily focused on post-disaster agency coordination and lacked a systematic approach to identifying climate-related hazards, vulnerability, and risk mitigation.
• Climate projections for Gorakhpur indicate significant changes in extreme rainfall events, with one analysis showing a potential increase in rainfall intensity of up to 33%, particularly for longer-duration events.
• The 'Shared Learning Dialogue' (SLD) process—a structured, iterative series of workshops and round table discussions—was critical for developing the capacity of government departments to understand and plan for climate risks both horizontally (across departments) and vertically (from district to state levels).
• The programme found that presenting climate projections through detailed analysis of extreme events (such as storm durations of 1, 2, and 24 hours) was more useful for government departments than standard regional downscaled scenarios, such as the Government of India's 50 km x 50 km resolution scenarios for the 2030s.
• The CDKN-START programme successfully influenced policy by leveraging the SLD process to sensitise the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), which led the Gorakhpur DDMA to issue an order integrating disaster risk reduction into departmental annual development plans.
• The programme identified several district-level challenges, including a lack of comprehensive understanding of vulnerability, poor horizontal coordination between departments, and the tendency to assess flood damages only for compensation purposes rather than analyzing root causes.

APA

Wajih, S. A., & Chopde, S. (2014). Integrating climate change concerns into disaster management planning: The case of Gorakhpur, India. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/CDKN_Gorakhpur_final_web-res.pdf

Chicago

Wajih, Shiraz A., and Shashikant Chopde. Integrating climate change concerns into disaster management planning: The case of Gorakhpur, India. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2014. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/CDKN_Gorakhpur_final_web-res.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Wajih |first1=Shiraz A. |last2=Chopde |first2=Shashikant |title=Integrating climate change concerns into disaster management planning: The case of Gorakhpur, India |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=May 2014 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/CDKN_Gorakhpur_final_web-res.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wajih2014integrating, author = {Wajih, Shiraz A. and Chopde, Shashikant}, title = {{Integrating climate change concerns into disaster management planning: The case of Gorakhpur, India}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2014}, month = may, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/CDKN_Gorakhpur_final_web-res.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }