Environmental policy and administrative management

Executive Summary This project aims to teach laymen residents how to detect signs of landslides, know what to do when such signs are observed, take action on mitigation measures and know what to do when landslides strike. It combines disaster risk reduction with overtones of environmental awareness, as one of the key messages calls for residents to regularly scan natural and built environment for any changes in their surroundings. Activities. The main activities that the project shall engage in are: Community talks and presentations (awareness and education) Training workshops on starting a community based monitoring program (capacity building) Setting up of monitoring programs (implementation) Case reports (end results) Target Audience. The target audience is homeowners and residents living in hillside communities or near urban development. Key messages to be conveyed to the target audience are categorized according to topics. One of them is to avoid deforestation, as rainfall on exposed earth causes rivulets, gullies and eventually soil erosion to occur. This is one of the activities under the category of Land Degradation, which is one of the GEF focal areas. Engagement of Communities. Residents will be directly engaged in this project as they are expected to start up and sustain a community based monitoring program within their communities. The communities that have been selected for this project are those that have reported problems before, but were not able to resolve them due to lack of capacity and capability. Starting up and maintaining a monitoring program by residents does not require much capital, but it does require a layman s understanding of geotechnical concepts and a good set of SOPs. This is what SlopeWatch intends to impart in this project. Benefits to Communities. The benefits of the project are that residents are not only safer in their environment, but they will have also learned about joint problem solving. Many of the residents have the mindset that since they pay cukai pintu , the Government should take care of slope maintenance and problems. This attitude leads to apathy and inaction on part of the residents. One of the lessons to be taught in this project is that residents should also be responsible for their own safety and vigilant of any changes in the environment around them. The objective of the proposed project is to teach residents on how to set up a community based early warning system and work with local authorities on follow up mitigation works and measures. This is done through public awareness, education and capacity building. Project Activities: This program involves four main activities: Awareness and talks to the communities on signs of landslides and what causes them Capacity building to sustain the program through training workshops Set up of a local monitoring program at the community level (setting up a community based monitoring system) Case management The last activity, performance review, ensures that the program is carried out properly by the residents. It is a form of quality assurance of the process. Expected Outputs: The performance of the program shall be measured through the number of monitoring programs set up at the residents association within the communities and the number of case reports that are filed.

Malaysia