The role of indigenous knowledge in
disasters and climate change resilience
A field study in Surkhet and Dailekh districts in the
Mid-Western region of Nepal
Antonio Battista
Supervisors:
Christopher Lamont – Joost Herman
University:
Rijksuniversiteit GroningenSubmission:
March 2014This thesis is submitted for obtaining the Joint Master’s Degree in International Humanitarian Action. By submitting the thesis, the author certifies that the text is from his own hand, does not include the work of someone else unless clearly indicated, and that the thesis
I. List of Abbreviations
CBO – Community Based Organization CBDRM – Disaster Risk ManagementCBDRR – Community-based Disaster Risk Reduction CBDP – Community-based Disaster Preparedness CCA – Climate Change Adaptation
DRR – Disaster Risk Reduction FGD – Focus Group Discussion HFA – Hyogo Framework for Action HH - Household
IK – Indigenous Knowledge IO – International Organization KU – Kathmandu University NRCS – Nepal Red Cross Society NGO – Non-governmental Organization
II. List of Tables and Figures
Figures:Figure 1: Similarities and differences CCA and DRR (Gero & Méheux 2010) ... 8
Figure 2: Theoretical framework for indigenous knowledge on disasters and climate change ... 25
Figure 3: Mid-western region map (UN 2012). ... 31
Figure 4: Structure of the research ... 37
Figure 5: Timeframe of the research ... 38
Figure 6: Surkhet - Jamun tree sample ... 81
Figure 7: Typical iron roof in Dailekh ... 96
Figure 8: Surkhet – Drawing of disasters/climate change (a) ... 99
Figure 9: Surkhet – Drawing of disasters/climate change (b) ... 100
Figure 10: Dailekh – Drawings (a) ... 105
Figure 11: Dailekh – Drawings (b) ... 105
Figure 12: Dailekh – Drawings (c) ... 106
Tables: Table 1: Differences Science/Indigenous Knowledge (Brascoupé & Mann 2001). 10 Table 2: Surkhet - District profile ... 32
Table 3: Surkhet - VDCs profile ... 32
Table 4: Surkhet - Wards profile ... 33
Table 5: Dailekh - district profile ... 33
Table 6: Dailekh - VDCs profile ... 34
Table 7: Dailekh - Wards profile ... 34
Table 8: Field research organization ... 36
Table 9: Surkhet - Gender/Age analysis ... 53
Table 10: Dailekh - Gender/Age analysis ... 53
Table 11: Surkhet - HH/Education analysis ... 54
Table 12: Dailekh - HH/Education analysis ... 54
Table 14: Livelihood facilities ... 56
Table 15: Surkhet - livelihood income ... 57
Table 16: Dailekh - livelihood income ... 58
Table 17: Surkhet - hazards and vulnerability assessment ... 59
Table 18: Dailekh - hazards and vulnerability assessment ... 60
Table 19: Exposure to hazards/risk ... 61
Table 20: DRR or CCA programs ... 62
Table 21: IK - Early warning systems ... 63
Table 22: IK – Adaptation to disasters ... 64
Table 23: Surkhet – Climate patterns ... 65
Table 24: Dailekh – Climate patterns ... 66
Table 25: Surkhet – Ecosystem, biodiversity and agriculture ... 67
Table 26: Dailekh – Ecosystem, biodiversity and agriculture ... 68
Table 27: IK – Adaptation to climate ... 69
Table 28: IK – Communication ... 71
Table 29: Surkhet – Focus group discussion overview ... 72
Table 30: Surkhet – Climate change patterns ... 77
Table 31: Dailekh – Focus group discussion overview ... 83
III. Preface
The thing that I like the most about my thesis is that there are many people to acknowledge and thank. This research is dedicated to all the people who made this journey possible and genuinely helped me throughout this path. Without your help, nothing of what I have done would have been possible.
First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor, Prof. Christopher Lamont, for his support and understanding. A great thanks also to Ms. Elena Herman-Pletjugina for her incredible care since the start of this Master’s until the very end of this academic experience, at the thesis submission stage. I feel like you taught us how tp positively get through this Master’s, giving precious suggestions and always being there for whatever we needed as students, as well as persons.
When moving to Dublin for the second academic semester I did not know yet that much more kindness was still on its way to come. I will never forget the valuable hints that Ms. Sulagna Maitra and Prof. Anne Markey gave me before choosing the topic of this research, you made me stay lucid in my thoughts and straightforward in the development of what became the chosen topic for my research. In the same context of University College Dublin, I also benefitted from the experience and sympathy of Ms. Olivia Wilkinson, Mr. Aaron Clark-Ginsberg and Mr. Ronan McDermott; I feel I have been extremely lucky of having you around while I was determining my research question and structure, you gave me the right suggestions in the right moment and I am very grateful for that.
I feel like I had a second big brother while I was in Nepal, and this is Mr. Arjun Khadka. I will never forget your kindness, you took care of me as if I was family since the very moment when I landed at Kathmandu airport, and you always made sure I had everything I needed. I will never be able to thank you enough for that, now that this thesis has come to an end I realize how much I owe you for this accomplishment.
I would like to acknowledge and thank the unforgettable Dev Guest House family, in particular Rajendra, Ruth, Anja, Shawn, Erika, Bikash, Tej, Deepak and Delia for being supportive and giving me strength and energies in the two months I spent there.
I would like also to thank all the people in Kathmandu and Pokhara that gave me priceless insights about the disasters and climate change situation in Nepal: Ms. Beckyjay Harrington, Mr. Bhesh Parajuli, Mr. Pashupati Chaudhary, Mr. Giovanni Congi, Mr. Niall Kavanagh and Mr. Hari Krishna Nibanupudi, thank you all for your unconditioned help.
My field research would have not been possible without the kind help of Mr. Nutan Dev Pokharel and Mr. Mahendra Narayan Mahato; you gave me trust and relied on me, assuming that I would have done a good work in the field. This thesis also represents a payback for your expectations.
Finally, the time to thank the most important people to whom I owe everything I have done in Nepal has come. A very big thank to Mr. Madan Bahadur Bhandari, Mr. Susan Parajuli and Mr. Chitra Dahal especially, but also to Mr. Kabi Kumar Rai, Ms Kosilia Chettri, Mr. Kumar Khem Sundar Shani, Mr. Himraj Adhikari, Ms. Sirjana Malla, Ms. Pramila Rawat, Mr. Ramesh Lamsal, Mr. Khem Shahi, Mr. Sudip Lamichhone, Mr. Prokash Sapkota, Mr. Dinesh Pokharel, Ms. Joyti Sharma, Ms. Nirula Chana, Ms. Belma Budha. This thesis is dedicated to you and your daily hard work.
Lastly, I would like to thank my beautiful mum and dad, from whom I always received support, love and energy. Without you I would not be the person I am today, I should remind myself more often how lucky I am to be son of yours.
IV. Abstract
V. Table of Contents
I. List of Abbreviations ... ii
II. List of Tables and Figures ... iii
III. Preface ... v
IV. Abstract ... vii
1. Introduction ... 1
2. Conceptual and Theoretical Frameworks ... 5
2.1 Conceptual background ... 5
2.1.1 Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) ... 5
2.1.2 Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) ... 6
2.1.3 Bridging the gap between DRR and CCA ... 7
2.1.4 Indigenous knowledge ... 9
2.1.5 Indigenous knowledge in disasters and climate change ... 10
2.1.6 Resilience ... 12
2.2 Theoretical framework ... 16
2.2.1 Enabling attributes ... 17
2.2.2 Enabling actions ... 20
2.2.2.1 Resilience to build disasters anticipation ... 20
2.2.2.2 Resilience to build climate change adaptation ... 21
2.2.3 Common framework for disasters and climate resilience ... 24
3. Research Design and Aims ... 26
3.1 Objectives of the study ... 26
3.1.1 Subject selection ... 26
3.1.2 The research gap ... 27
3.1.3 Principal objective ... 27
3.1.4 Specific objectives ... 28
3.2 Site selection and field visit ... 28
3.2.1 Description of the two VDCs ... 31
3.2.1.1 Mid-‐Western region ... 31
3.2.2.2 Surkhet ... 32
3.2.2.3 Dailekh ... 33
3.2.2 Field research organization ... 36
4. Research Process and Methods ... 37
4.1 Structure of the research ... 37
4.2 Timeframe of the research ... 38
4.3.1 Desk review ... 39
4.3.2 Questionnaire ... 39
4.3.3 Focus group discussion ... 42
4.3.4 Transect walk ... 47
4.4 Data organization and input ... 47
4.5 Limitations and challenges ... 48
4.6 Ethical Considerations ... 51
5. Data Analysis ... 52
5.1 Questionnaire analysis ... 52
5.1.1 Livelihood statistics ... 52
5.1.2 Hazard definition and vulnerability assessment ... 59
5.1.3 IK for disasters and climate change ... 65
5.1.4 IK and Communication ... 70
5.2 FGD analysis ... 72
5.2.1 FGDs in Surkhet ... 72
5.2.1.1 Knowledge on natural hazards ... 73
5.2.1.2 Knowledge on climate change ... 76
5.2.1.3 Communication of natural disasters and climate change ... 79
5.2.2 FGD Dailekh ... 83
5.2.2.1 Knowledge on natural hazards ... 84
5.2.2.2 Knowledge on climate change ... 89
5.2.2.3 Communication of natural disasters and climate change ... 91
5.2.3 FGDs with children ... 98
5.2.3.1 Surkhet ... 98
5.3.2.2 Dailekh ... 102
6. Discussion ... 110
6.1 Discussing the attributes ... 110
6.2 Discussing the actions ... 114
6.2.1 Enabling actions for natural disasters ... 114
6.2.2 Enabling actions for climate change ... 116
6.2.3 IK for climate change and disaster resilience ... 118
7. Conclusion ... 121
8. Bibliography ... 126
1. Introduction
“Resilience does not focus on what is missing in a crisis (needs and vulnerabilities) but on what is already in place (resources and adaptive capacities)” (O’Brien et al. 2006, pp. 71).
and climate change adaptation and mitigation. For what concerns indigenous knowledge in disasters preparedness, it refers mainly to building techniques for disaster-resistant houses, interpreting the signs in the environment to anticipate a natural hazard, understanding unusual appearance and movement of wildlife, using local legends/proverbs to raise awareness on climate-related problems and relying on social networks of a community to cope with disasters effects (ISDR 2008). Regarding the IK for climate change, the main features that characterize it are the awareness of the changes in the climate, comparing the weather patterns between 10 or 20 years ago and now, using climate-resilient agricultural local practices, noticing the changes in biodiversity and in the ecosystem and preserving natural resources (Nakashima, D.J., Galloway McLean, K., Thulstrup, H.D., Ramos Castillo, A. and Rubis 2012; Chhetri et al. 2012; Chaudhary et al. 2011).
The goal of this research is to study the use of indigenous knowledge (IK) for disaster preparedness and climate change, and investigate what their leverage is in community resilience. In other words, the research aims to understand the IK on disasters and climate change of a given community, to see what their local practices and beliefs are, and how these contribute to their resilience. In order to study the application of this concept in practice, a field research was conducted. The districts of Surkhet and Dailekh in the Mid-Western region of Nepal have been selected as the field setting. Nepal has been selected because of its long experience with natural disasters (Aryal 2012; Jones et al. 2013) and because similar studies have been conducted in the country (Chaudhary et al. 2011; K.C. 2013). However, no research has focused on IK applied to both natural disasters and climate change specifically. Another reason for choosing Nepal is that it is a country where hazards triggered by the climate change are constantly increasing, and therefore the link between the climate change and disasters is already embedded in the weather patterns. This research focuses on investigating what the role of indigenous/local knowledge of the communities in Surkhet and Dailekh is on disasters preparedness and response, as well as on climate change adaptation, focusing on the communities’ self-vulnerability assessment, as well as their awareness and coping mechanisms.
and IK, namely DRR, CCA, IK as such and IK applied to both disaster and climate change studies. Having done so, a definition of resilience will be given, and the constitutive elements of such concept will be applied to a theoretical framework that pulls together all the notions defined and explained in the conceptual framework. The theoretical framework will explore the enabling attributes (sociocultural, human, financial, physical, natural dimensions of a community) and the enabling actions (the practical application of IK on disasters and climate change), and how the merging of the two leads to the definition of a community resilience.
Subsequently the research design will be shaped in the third chapter, explaining in detail the principal and specific objectives of this research, which define the research question. As it is very much correlated with the motivations of choosing this specific topic, in the same chapter the site selection analysis and a brief description of the two districts where the thesis has been conducted will be given. A part from a general description of the region and the districts, the focus will be mainly on the characteristics of the wards1
where the research has been performed, and on the way the field study has been organized, taking into consideration the timeframe and the main activities planned. The fourth chapter gives an overview of the research process and methods, starting with a concise overview of the structure of the research, from the desk review until the data analysis and discussion. The subsequent paragraph goes more into details of the research methods chosen for the field study, namely the questionnaire, focus group discussions (FGDs) and transect walk. A part from briefly describing the reasons for choosing these specific methods, this section will be useful to see what kind of questions will be asked to the respondents and which are the main topics covered. After describing the methods, the last part of the chapter defines the data organization and input, which are clearly different between the questionnaire and FGDs, and the limitation, challenges and ethical considerations for this research.
The fifth chapter is the actual core of the research. The data analysis will first explore the main findings of the questionnaire, seldom making comparisons between the answers got from the two districts, analysing the main trends in form of percentages. To make the outcomes more easier to understand, the findings section of the questionnaire has been
2. Conceptual and Theoretical Frameworks
2.1 Conceptual background
This thesis pulls together the different ways indigenous knowledge is used for disaster preparedness and climate change adaptation, and it focuses into the role of IK for community resilience. In order to do so, several sources of literature on disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, indigenous/local knowledge and resilience have been taken into account (Nakashima, D.J., Galloway McLean, K., Thulstrup, H.D., Ramos Castillo, A. and Rubis 2012; Baumwoll 2008; Chaudhary et al. 2011; Venton & Trobe 2008; Schipper 2009). This chapter will start with a brief description of what disaster preparedness and climate change adaptation are, then it will look more into detail the definition of local/indigenous knowledge (that for simplicity’s sake from now on it will be called as “IK”2) and its usage for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate
Change Adaptation (CCA), and finally a brief overview on the concept of resilience and the IK adapted to it.
2.1.1 Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
In many of the world’s least developed countries the occurrence of a natural hazard could constitute a major impact in terms of damages and loss of lives for the country affected, which most of the time overwhelm the coping capacity of the living population and government, which in turn has to sacrifice the longer-term progress in order to invest resources in disaster relief and recovery. Nonetheless, over the last decade there has been a significant shift into the disaster management practices that are going more and more towards a more comprehensive understanding of the causes of hazard vulnerability and to an adoption of a forward-looking strategy for anticipating and managing risk of disasters (Thomalla et al. 2006). One of the initiatives to mainstream a new approach that considers the disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness as a priority in the national and international disaster management (Twigg 2004) has been taken by the
UNISDR3, which defines Disaster Risk Reduction as the “action taken to reduce the risk
of disasters and the adverse impacts of natural hazards, through systematic efforts to analyse and manage the causes of disasters, including through avoidance of hazards, reduced social and economic vulnerability to hazards, and improved preparedness for adverse events” (UNISDR 2008). UNISDR leads the organization of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, which is the main guidance for the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA)4 and coordinates DRR efforts of nations and
international community, mainly through advocacy and policy measures (Australian AID 2012). Moreover, DRR efforts after HFA establishment are going towards an integration of the reduction of risks with the existing climate variability and future climate changes, for which adaptation strategies are needed (UNISDR 2008). In order to understand the synergies between the two disciplines, in the next paragraph an overview of what is the Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) will be given.
2.1.2 Climate Change Adaptation (CCA)
The adaptation to climate change can be defined as “An adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities”(CARE 2010). This definition has been given by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)5 in 2001 and
since the beginning it was very clear how the adaptation to the climate change tackles several sectors of the society – which is one of the mains reasons of its complexity – such as agriculture, infrastructures and health and for which different adaptation measures have to be espoused (Birkmann & Teichman 2010). Some examples of these adaptation measures consist in building adaptive capacity, for individuals and organizations, to adapt to changes in the climate that generate harmful impacts, through different means: communicating climate change information, building awareness on potential impacts and
3 The UN agency that ensures the implementation of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, adopted by the General Assembly in December 1999 (Australian AID 2012).
4 Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) was adopted in 2005 as a ten-years plan by 168 governments to work for disaster resilience of nations and communities (Mercer 2010).
trying to minimise them (Adger et al. 2005). When analysing DRR and CCA policies and practices, it becomes clear how these two worlds have much more in common than usually recognized, and it is becoming more and more difficult to speak about of one without mentioning the other. The main reason for that is that climate change increases the risk of natural disasters and furthermore it jeopardizes its effects (Schipper 2009). The way climate change increases the risk of natural disasters is mainly shaped in two main ways: it possibly increases the frequency and magnitude of extreme events and it could generate new threats, undermining the existing coping mechanism that were in place before and creating new ones for the regions where these threats were not existing before (Venton & Trobe 2008).
As both DRR and CCA aim to implement policies and plans that would reduce the vulnerability of the considered population, these two communities have much more in common than their actual implementation in practical terms (Gero & Méheux 2010). In the next paragraph the similarities and differences between the two approaches will be analysed, so as to understand what is their joint role in the building of resilience in a given community.
2.1.3 Bridging the gap between DRR and CCA
differences that could easily converge in joint efforts (see Annex 2 for examples). Even if there are many differences between the two approaches, they both certainly aim to reduce vulnerability and enhance resilience, as it is evidently shown in the following diagram.
Figure 1: Similarities and differences CCA and DRR (Gero & Méheux 2010)
communities. In fact, natural hazards and climate change impacts could severely affect the natural, economic, social and political activities of a certain community/state, which is an additional reason why these two must be addressed in a holistic and comprehensive way, involving all the sectors of the society (Thomalla et al. 2006). The integration in fact would have several benefits: the climate-related losses would be reduced by widespread DRR efforts, the efficiency of resources (financial, human and natural) would increase and the effectiveness and sustainability of DRR and CCA approaches would be strongly enhanced (Gero & Méheux 2010).
As just mentioned, one common point analysed in the figures above is the role of traditional/indigenous knowledge in pursuing the adaptation and reduce the risks, complementing DRR and CCA efforts. Since the IKs for disasters are climate change have been solely studied together (and here it comes one of the aim of this research, to pull together the two communities on a IK perspective), in the next paragraph an overview of the role of IK for both issues will be given, eventually recognizing their role for building community resilience.
2.1.4 Indigenous knowledge
Table 1: Differences Science/Indigenous Knowledge (Brascoupé & Mann 2001).
Factor Science Indigenous Knowledge How approached Compartmental Holistic
How communicated Written Oral
How taught Lectures, theories Observations, experience
How explained Theory, “value free” Spiritual, social values
The table above comprises all the aspects that characterize the aleatory nature of IK, which is obviously less certain, documented and empirically proven in comparison with the scientific knowledge. A part from the fact that this is due to its less structured character, it is also true that IK does not remain static in space and time, it actually changes as the community are changing to adapt better to the challenging context, and it varies from one area to another, and even in the same area from one community to another (SAARC 1999). Moreover, as it is not a fixed and definite knowledge, various communities and people would use different ways to adapt such knowledge to the natural threats, even if it comes from the same knowledge institution (Nadeem et al. 2009).
2.1.5 Indigenous knowledge in disasters and climate change
The importance of incorporating IK into practices of development, risk analysis and adaptation measures has been recognised already since the 70’s, when the available literature on the subject started to grow constantly, and recently it has been also underlined its significance in relation to environmental hazards and disasters (Mercer et al. 2010). In fact, this has been emphasized in various occasions by the IPCC6, who stated
that IK is invaluable to develop adaptation and natural resource management strategies to respond to the changes in the environment, and that it might constitute a cost-effective, participatory and sustainable adaptation practice (Nakashima et al. 2012).
Going more into details, the use of IK for disaster preparedness, disaster risk reduction and recovery practices came from an internationally recognized fact that the scientific approaches alone are not enough anymore to help the local communities who live in disaster prone areas to cope and be resilient to natural hazards. This shift has commenced already in the 90’s, but one of the events that strongly convinced the international community about the usefulness and thoughtfulness of IK for DRR has been the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 (Baumwoll 2008). The “primitive” tribes living in Andamar and Nicobar islands largely demonstrated the unique value of IK for DRR, as even though they were the ones living closest to the epicentre of the wave, they managed to save many more lives in comparison with more civilized communities that were far away from the epicentre (SAARC 2008); this has been possible thanks to the bamboo-based housing, typical of the island, that allowed them to cope with the devastating effect of the tsunami and survive (ISDR 2008).
For what concerns CCA, indigenous knowledge could definitely play a major role in the adaptation of the communities to the changes in the climate and variability of the weather. In fact, in order to attend climate change, there are two main strategies that could work in synergy to reduce its impact: mitigation strategies and adaptation strategies (Nyong et al. 2007). The integration of the two strategies can translate into practical behaviour for instance as natural resource management, biodiversity conservation and to measure and combat desertification. When it comes to very poor communities that probably do not have the financial possibilities to mitigate the effects of climate change through technological ways, it becomes clear that the indigenous knowledge for adaptation (such as weather forecasting, vulnerability assessment and implementation of adaptation strategies) to climate change becomes in practice the only strategy these communities have to survive, depending also on the type of environment where they are living (ibid.).
2.1.6 Resilience
The last step before defining the theoretical framework for this research is describing how the concept of resilience is of utmost importance when it comes to put together all the abovementioned elements, meaning DRR, CCA and IK applied to both.
To give a practical reference to the concept of resilience, Mayunga (2007) applied it to disasters preparedness having as a conceptual framework the resilience assets; the capital approach considers the various assets as essential in order to build a sustainable economic recovery and response to disasters. This model frames its strength on the fact that the more the communities posses a high degree of assets, the more the community would be resilient to natural hazard and climate change, and therefore having an enhanced recovery and adapting capacity. The framework developed by Mayunga (2007) comprises 5 assets that serve as tools to assess the degree of resources that a specific community have, and which all together leads to a certain degree of resilience; the more these assets are attained the more a disaster affected community would be resilient and have the necessary tools to cope and recover quickly. More precisely, the author describes the different assets/capitals as follows:
− Social capital: For community resilience, the social capital manly refers to the degree of social cooperation, in quantity and quality, of a given community. In this sense, people that rely on social capital are relying on a network of people and resources that allow them to better cope with aversive circumstances. The most resilient communities are the ones that work together to reach a common goal. To measure the degree of social capital that a community has it would be useful to see the number of CBOs, NGOs and associations that are present in the study area and which is their leverage within the community.
− Economic capital: It refers principally to the possession of financial resources – or possession of resources in general, to assess the livelihood assets. It is proved that a stable household economy enhances the resilience of a given household and decrease its vulnerability; the stableness of a HH economy can be measured through the income, properties, values and investments.
physical location, of household’s shelters and other infrastructures, i.e. if the a house is flood-resistant and located uphill, the people living in that specific house would be definitely more resilient than people living in poorer and more dangerous conditions.
− Human capital: The human capital deserves a particular attention in this research’s context, given its theoretical nature and its focus to the usage of IK in communities’ resilience. The human capital build its leverage on people’s experience, and in the specific case of communities affected by natural hazards it refers their previous experiences on natural hazards and their knowledge on how to cope with them (and the same assumption could be made regarding climate change). Later in this paper the role of IK in the human capital will be better addressed, but in general there are many ways through which the human capital of a community can be measured: education, health, demographic and household characteristics and general personal skills.
− Natural capital: this asset would generally refer to natural resources and ecosystem, and especially the quality of such and how the human being is managing its preservation and reproduction. This asset assumes a very important role especially for climate change considerations, as it will be more clear in the next section; in these terms, natural capital regards the way humans are dealing with solid and liquid waste management, recycling measures, CO2 emissions etc. In the specific case of natural hazards, natural
Given the semi-quantitative nature of this research, and the overall goal of assessing IK in general terms, the index approach will not be adopted; this decision might constitute a limitation in terms of giving consistent outcomes for this research, but it also gives a certain degree of flexibility that is of utmost importance in assessing indigenous/local knowledge on disaster prevention and mitigation.
2.2 Theoretical framework
In order to pull together the concepts of coping with natural disasters and adapting to climate changes, a comprehensive theoretical framework has to be adopted. In order to analyse the two disciplines from a local/indigenous knowledge perspective, it is important to first have a common framework for both that encompasses the characteristics, intrinsic in human behaviour and society, which define the way IK is perceived and adopted in a given community. This characteristics will be called “enabling attributes”, and will constitute the basis of the discussion around the use of IK in natural disasters and climate change. After having done so, the theoretical framework will analyse in detail the specific features related to each discipline, both for natural disasters and climate change, which will be called “enabling actions”. As desirable goal, this theoretical framework designs a comprehensive approach towards the use of IK in the community resilience on disasters and climate change. The division of enabling attributes and enabling actions7 is specified
as follows:
− Enabling attributes: The enabling attributes are the assets that define the IK in all aspects of society. They are inspired by the capital-based approach abovementioned, and they take into consideration the use of IK in the sociocultural, human, financial, physical, natural dimensions of a community, and are embedded in every action/structural aspects of human behaviour.
− Enabling actions: The enabling actions are the specific features of IK adapted to disasters and climate change, therefore they define the role of IK in the coping mechanisms and adaptation measures of a given community. The enabling actions will be defined separately for disasters and climate change, and they will be consequently put together with the enabling attributes, to find a common framework for IK role in resilience.
After analysing the enabling attributes and the enabling actions in the next section, the last paragraph will delineate a comprehensive framework through which the research methods and data collection have been framed.
7The concepts of enabling attributes and enabling actions have been deliberately inspired from the work of
2.2.1 Enabling attributes
The enabling attributes are inspired by the work of Mayunga (2007), but for this theoretical framework there is a need of using a model that embed the concept of indigenous/local knowledge, which is a cross-cutting feature when it comes to resilience assets. In fact, although IK could be considered as a characterizing feature solely of the human capital, it is actually something that applies to all assets and for each asset the IK plays a different role. Dekens (2007) identified a similar capital-based approach, that aims to analyse the assets taking into consideration the local/indigenous knowledge in disaster and climate preparedness of a community. As stated in the previous chapter, IK can be considered as a form of adaptation and so Dekens identifies its assets: the attainment of community resilience pass across the adaptation to natural shocks through local knowledge, measured through an assets-based approach. Although Dekens identified more capitals (i.e. political and institutional), its model perfectly fits in the context of this research because of its leverage on indigenous knowledge and because it is very well tested within other theories in different fields of disaster studies (Dixit et al. 2012; Macchi 2011; DFID 1999). The assets-based approach developed by Dekens (2007) considers the following assets:
− Natural assets: to stress the importance of preserving natural resources in light of possible natural hazards, the author mentions the intercropping, agroforestry and conservation of biodiversity, to prevent soil erosion, slope conservation. flood/drought-resistant crops etc. As mentioned before, this asset particularly constitute the way community responds and adapt to natural hazards but also (and especially) to the consequences of climate change, as it will be farther developed.
− Human assets: in the field of natural hazards, human assets constitute the most important aspect related to local/indigenous knowledge and how/when it is used to contribute to the resilience of a given group. This research will focus mostly on this asset, keeping in consideration also all the others in order to give a comprehensive overview of the studied community. When referring to human assets, the author describes the general knowledge of basic survival, construction skills (for earthquake resistant houses, of for example building the house on an elevated platform in case the location is prone to floods), songs/legends that would help people to remember previous disasters and consequently cope better with new ones and general communication skills. To these general knowledge, there are some others that refer also to the ability of “reading” the landscape, interpret elements in the nature and understand the changes in the climate. Nevertheless, as it is widely demonstrated (Berrell & Phillips 2013; Kelman et al. 2008), with education, migrations and economic change, these indigenous skills are more and more hard to find, with the result that traditional skills are weakened.
− Financial/economic assets: both in terms of community and individual values, cash savings and possessions could be helpful in a post-disaster recovery situation. Connected to these assets, there are also many coping strategies that help a household/community to be more resilient: these are i.e. seasonal and permanent migration (which enables to compensate the losses and to advance the family economically), improving access to micro-credit and savings and certain forms of entrepreneurships.
− Physical assets: strictly correlated with human assets, these refer to infrastructure safety arrangements (boats, housing, food storages and retaining walls). It also refers to the possession of facilities that would help to cope better with natural shocks, and to specific tools in use of IK.
disaster context, and although some connections to climate change adaptation can be made, the model was not ideated to address climate change concerns. Considering that the purpose of this thesis is to pull together both disciplines, hereafter another model designed for CCA which will better address climate change considerations, and will be a complement of the model developed by Dekens (2007).
The framework developed by Dekens (2007) is very similar to the Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA). It was originally designed to assess the understanding of poor households, and DFID has defined it as follows: “A livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets (including both material and social resources), and activities required for a means of living. A livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and recover from stresses and shocks and maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets both now and in the future, while not undermining the natural resource base” (DFID 1999, pp. 1). This approach presents the same capitals as the capital-based approach for resilience (human, social, economic, natural, financial and physical) but Macchi (2011) adapted this well tested framework on climate change issues and it is very relevant to this research because it comes from a regional intergovernmental learning and knowledge sharing center - ICIMOD (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development) – that has its HQ in Kathmandu, Nepal. Macchi’s research, besides from exploring the use of SLA in climate change, applied the concept to some Nepalese contexts from which this research deliberately took inspiration. The author affirms that especially mountainous communities have developed high adaptive strategies to the effects of climate change, building on their livelihood assets – in particular human, natural and social assets, which are clearly the one where IK plays a very important role. The basic principle behind this livelihood assets model lies on the fact that the assets, embedded by IK, are constantly put under challenging conditions defined by the vulnerability degree of a certain group and the external circumstances.
2.2.2 Enabling actions
2.2.2.1 Resilience to build disasters anticipation
When one thinks about disaster resilience, the words that come across the mind are adaptation, anticipation, mitigation, recovery, preparedness etc. (SAARC 2008). In reference to IK in disaster preparedness, the way to resilience can be easily explained by the way local communities, especially those that cannot rely on many financial assets, experiment, cope and adapt to the natural hazards and how they learned from previous hazards (Dekens 2007).
In the previous paragraph the notion of assets-based approach has been introduced and that is the theoretical framework that has been used to build the basis for the questionnaire and FGD. This being said, considering that disasters and climate change usually affect the same population but people may cope with them differently, it is important to differentiate the coping strategies based on local knowledge and only see after the analysis if those are complementary or if they differ to each other, because each discipline entails different enabling actions. When assessing the value of IK for disaster preparedness/reduction, there are some aspects that particularly influence its leverage and where IK really contribute to disaster resilience. Those aspects, developed by SAARC (1999) are the following:
− Anticipation: This refers to the ability of people/groups to interpret the signals of nature that would help them to prevent the negative consequences of disasters; a prompt and effective anticipation mechanism would allow the group to prevent losses of life and damages. Examples of anticipation are moving to safer places, build buffer stocks of grains or stones and design housing in a resilient way.
− Coping: It has to do with facing the immediate moment after a disaster and it comprises the mutual support of people and trying to alternate different livelihood strategies.
case of disaster preparedness, adaptation refers to the adjustment of life and the way communities adapt to the changing environment.
− Recovery: It refers to the aftermaths of a disaster and it has to do with the way people/groups stand back to normal life and how they prepare to the next shock. Recovery refers especially to the ability of the community to mitigate the risks of damages and human loss when the next disaster will strike, therefore decreasing their vulnerability.
Through the IK, local communities try to anticipate, cope, adapt and recover from natural hazards and they could put in place several expertise they learned by their ancestors and siblings. These types of IK could be i.e looking at changes in environmental conditions and animal behaviour, preserve food, develop house building techniques, use social networks to cope with disasters, develop alternative source of income and use local strategies to use local resource in the most efficient way. These and other types of IK applied to natural disasters preparedness/response capacity will be further analysed in the chapter of methodology, where a better overview of the rationale behind the frame of the questionnaire and FGD will be given.
2.2.2.2 Resilience to build climate change adaptation
adaptation pursues to enable an individual or a group to cope with and adjust to the impacts of climate change. This strategy basically aims to achieve a sustainable natural resource management and good practices (that will be touched upon in the next section), but also to a general awareness of what these climate changes encompasses, as affirmed by IPCC that defined adaptation as “[…] the result of a deliberate policy decision, based on an awareness that conditions have changed or are about to change and that action is required to return to, maintain, or achieve a desired state”(Nakashima, D.J., Galloway McLean, K., Thulstrup, H.D., Ramos Castillo, A. and Rubis 2012). In the framework of this research, mitigation and adaptation will be the two baselines of the IK on CCA of the studied communities.
As it has already been mentioned, resilience for climate change adaptation takes different paths when in comes to define the way IK is useful to reduce vulnerability to climate change. A very appropriate and context-specific model to assess the consistency of local perceptions of climate change in hilly and mountainous areas of Nepal has been developed by Prof. Chaudhary, researcher at Li-Bird organization. The model developed by Li-Bird (Chaudhary et al. 2012; Chhetri et al. 2012) considers the consequences of climate change for Nepalese population and build its strength on the high reliability that Prof Chaudhary and its colleagues give to IK in CCA. After several researches on the subject, Chaudhary and his colleagues came to the conclusion that climate change has specific impacts on human beings and livelihoods and these impacts are very often addressed by local communities through their traditional/indigenous knowledge. Specifically, these assets are the following:
− Impact on weather and ecosystem: this aspect has to do mainly with the weather itself and its changes over the last 10-20 years. The two main characteristics of weather are rainfalls and temperature, and both proved to have varied consistently in the recent years comparing to how the weather patterns used to be. One of the effects of the climate change is definitely the rise of temperatures (alias global warming), unpredictable rainfalls, more longer dry seasons, snow melting and glacial retreat and so on (Chaudhary & Aryal 2009). For what concerns IK, there are many examples of weather changes that local people could perceive through their traditional knowledge:
o Early monsoon season
o More variable and unpredictable rains are very frequent o In winter it is very hard to see frost
o Rare snowfalls
At the time of framing the questionnaires, more examples will be given and it will shown which kind of weather anticipations have been chosen.
− Impact on biodiversity: The Himalaya is one of the 34 global hot spots for biodiversity and there is a high concentration of glaciers (Chaudhary & Bawa 2011). The impacts of climate change in biodiversity are mainly related to the changes in animal and vegetal species, and in particular one of the effects could be the shift in geographical ranges of species, alterations in species composition, changes in the time of phenology and extinction of species (Chaudhary et al. 2011). Local knowledge could play an important role in assessing the impact of climate change in biodiversity in the following ways:
o Discovery of new plants that were not present in the vegetation years ago due to the cold
o Early flowering o Early singing of birds o Early budburst
− Impact on agriculture and livelihoods: In terms of effects in agriculture and consequently in livelihoods of people, climate change could affect the phenology of crops, new weeds and crops would spread in agriculture and new agricultural pests would emerge (Chaudhary et al. 2011). The resulting impact of climate change in agriculture has an effect on the livelihoods of people, whom to mitigate and adapt to new crops and pests they would have to differentiate their agricultural habits. Some of the traditional knowledge strategies adopted by communities to adapt to climate change impact on agriculture are the following:
o Early crop maturity o New crops pests observed o New weeds seen
This is the framework that will be used to assess the mitigation and adaptation measures through IK in regards to climate change consequences. The next paragraph will give an overview of what the comprehensive theoretical framework for this research will be, considering all the concepts and models that have been presented in this section.
2.2.3 Common framework for disasters and climate resilience
Through this brief structure of the theoretical framework in use for this research, it becomes clear that resilience is a concept that encompasses both DRR and CCA. There is nevertheless a slight difference between the meaning of resilience applied to DRR and to CCA. When it comes to disasters resilience, the focus in on the existing capacity of the community of anticipate, resist, cope and recover from the hazard’s impact. In this regard, traditional/indigenous knowledge is very important to contribute for maintaining all the assets that have been mentioned in the previous paragraphs and to initiate DRR strategies. When it comes to CCA the use of traditional knowledge assumes a slightly different connotation as climate change is more as an exacerbation of already existing (or still not-existing) problems, and the timeframe and the way of responding are different than in natural disaster settings. The difficulty of applying traditional knowledge in climate change context is more difficult because it implies a certain knowledge of the projected impacts of the climate, which many remote communities do not have (Venton & Trobe 2008). This being said, the focus would then be especially on adaptation measures taken by the studied communities, focusing on the enabling actions that have been framed in the previous paragraph.
Figure 2: Theoretical framework for indigenous knowledge on disasters and climate
change
Enabling actions for disasters preparedness: − Anticipation − Coping − Adaptation − Recovery Enabling attributes − Human capital/assets − Social capital/assets − Natural capital/assets − Economic capital/assets − Physical capital/assets
Enabling actions for climate change:
− Mitigation − Adaptation Indigenous knowledge for climate change:
− Impact on weather and ecosystem
− Impact on biodiversity − Impact on agriculture
and livelihoods
Enabling actions for disaster preparedness and climate change adaptation:
Coping and adapting
3. Research Design and Aims
3.1 Objectives of the study
3.1.1 Subject selection
3.1.2 The research gap
The importance of the indigenous/local knowledge when it comes to DRR and CCA has recently been recognized internationally and several efforts are made to understand if a permutation between them and scientific expertise would improve the effectiveness of disaster risk preparedness. Also, the efficacy of local knowledge concerning disaster preparedness and response has been undermined by the climate change, and in a country like Nepal the hazards triggered by the climate change are in constant increase. These climate hazards though always existed and rural communities must have their own way, taught by the ancestors and habits, to prepare and cope with disasters caused by the climate. My focus than would be to see what is the role of the indigenous/local knowledge of the communities on disasters and climate change, focusing on their self-vulnerability assessment, their awareness and coping mechanism.
3.1.3 Principal objective
The principal objective of this research is to identify the role of indigenous/local knowledge in the resilience to climate change and natural disasters in two districts of Nepal. In doing so, it will become clear through the methods chosen for this research where these two disciplines could merge and to what extent IK could play an important role in the coping mechanisms and adaptation measures towards natural disasters and climate changes. The consequent scope is to understand if the IK of the studied communities still constitutes an important tool for the resilience of rural communities, and two different districts (Surkhet and Dailekh, in the Mid-Western region of Nepal) have been chosen, in order to make a comparison and strengthen the outcomes of the research.
3.1.4 Specific objectives
The specific objectives, that would aim to achieve the overall objective, are:
1. Identify the importance of the combination of DRR and CCA and study the role of indigenous/local knowledge in this combination
2. Identify the indigenous/local knowledge on DRR and CCA in two VDCs in two districts of Nepal. I will make a comparison between a VDC which is located in a flat and cultivated area (Surkhet), where the temperatures are quite high in comparison with another mid-hilly area, where the environment is slightly different (Dailekh). The analysis will be mainly focused on the different type of indigenous knowledge assessed, rather than on the physical context of the two districts.
3. Identify the state of knowledge, both in terms of awareness and adaptation measures, towards natural disasters and climate changes of the selected communities, and see the similarities and the differences of the two case studies. 4. Finally, to see as a whole how the IK of the selected local communities is
contributing to the resilience to disasters and climate change, trying to understand where the limitations and challenges are, and where some lessons learned can be built. The discussion will be built around the concept of resilience and, under an IK perspective, the adaptation level of the studied communities will be analysed.
3.2 Site selection and field visit
floods, storms, high winds, forest fires, glacier outburst and so on that makes the whole country pretty vulnerable to disasters (NSET 2008; Aryal 2012); this conditions have worsened in the last 10 years especially because of the high urbanization, pollution, risen of temperatures, all aspects that contributed to the climate change in Nepal. Therefore, I decided to choose Nepal as a case study for my thesis, also because not much research on the role of IK in DRR and CCA has been conducted in this area, a part from some case studies conducted by ICIMOD and Kathmandu University, which mainly studied the subject under the perspective of either DRR or CCA (Chaudhary et al. 2012; Khanal et al. 2007; K.C. 2013), but never the two aspects together. This was the main research gap that I discovered in the literature, and this has not only to do with the Nepalese context, but the all academic research on indigenous knowledge’s role to tackle natural hazards and climate change is treating the two aspects as separately. I began my approach the Nepalese setting by sending emails to NGOs, Universities, Research Teams and International Organizations based in Nepal, in order to get the first contacts for my field research and to try to understand better my topic of interest. I got many positive responses, especially from researches and from the University of Kathmandu, who demonstrated since the very first moment an impressive willingness to help me with my thesis and to provide me with all the information that I would have needed to be facilitated in my moving to Nepal. Once got there, I realized the extreme importance that DRR and CCA kind of work have in the Nepalese context, with several international, national and local NGOs and international organizations who are committed to make Nepal a disaster and climate change resilient country.
Sharma convinced them of the benefits of our potential collaboration. Oxfam then proposed me to conduct my research in the same region where their pilot project in collaboration with KU would have taken place three months after. This move would have helped them to get a better insight of the current situation of the VDCs where their project was meant to start some months later, and it also would have had a positive impact on my research: with Oxfam facilities and staff, I would have gained easy access to the field and the communities, therefore being able to conduct a survey and the necessary interviews.
After that meeting at the end of July, there have been some others to understand in which direction I wanted my research to be drawn. Following several discussions on what kind of population I wanted to research (and if it was better to make a comparative study, between two communities, or two VDCs, and so on), we finally jointly decided that I would have conducted a field research of approximately 12 days in the mid-west of Nepal, in the VDCs of Surkhet and Dailekh, from the 15th until the 26th of August 20138. In the
meantime, before I went to the Mid-west to perform my research, I had the time to readjust the questionnaire/FGD questions before travelling to those two VDCs. During my time there, I have been assisted by the staff of two local NGOs that work in collaboration with Oxfam, which made the data collection a lot easier and accessible. Thanks to the two local NGOs, I always had a support throughout my time there and their help has been very valuable especially in relation to the practical support they gave me in order to get access to the local communities. Once got back to Kathmandu, I de-briefed Oxfam and Prof. Sharma about my field research and I prepared for them a summary report of the main findings.
In order to have a better idea of what was the context where the research has been conducted, in the next paragraph it will be described the Mid-Western region of Nepal, especially for what concern the demographic and physical characteristic, also briefly focusing on the selected VDCs, Surkhet and Dailekh.
3.2.1 Description of the two VDCs
3.2.1.1 Mid-‐Western region
Figure 3: Mid-western region map (UN 2012).
Nepal – there is no much chance for the population living in MWR to move to other regions and outside the country.
3.2.2.2 Surkhet
Table 2: Surkhet - District profile
Surkhet District profile
Capital Birendranagar Municipality
Elevation range 300 Mt to 6400 Mt Latitude 28 ͦ20' to 28 ͦ 58' Longitude 80 ͦ59' to 82 ͦ 2' Area 2,451 km² Total Population 350.803 Male Population 177160 Female Population 173643 HDI value
Deaths related to natural disasters 2001-2010 (K.C. 2013) 7
Affected families 549
Animal loss 129
Surkhet is the regional headquarter of the Mid-western region of Nepal. This district is highly susceptible to soil erosion and floods and, as a result, to landslides (Aryal 2007). It’s flat landscape makes the land very prone to be used for agriculture, but especially in this district there are several drought problems recurrent every year (Government of Nepal 2010). Out of the 51 VDCs present in the district, for this research the field study has been conducted in 3 VDCs, namely Mehelkuna, Dahachaur and Sahare. The general info on these VDCs are the following:
Table 3: Surkhet - VDCs profile
VDCs Mehelkuna Dahachaur Sahare
Inside each VDCs there are a certain number of wards, which are political divisions and represent agglomerates of small villages. The research has been conducted specifically in three wards, namely Sundarkhali, Suwaghat and Bhulke, and they belong respectively to Mehelkuna, Dahachaur and Sahare VDCs. The general data on the three wards visited are the following:
Table 4: Surkhet - Wards profile
Wards Sundarkhali Suwaghat Bhulke
Male Population 305 279 226 Female Population 315 261 215 Total Population 620 540 441
In these three wards the questionnaires and FGDs have been collected in a balanced way, trying to visit all the three wards evenly. The only remark is that for the FGD with children a school in Bhulke has been chosen.
In total, 72 questionnaires and 5 focus groups have been performed in Surkhet.
3.2.2.3 Dailekh
Table 5: Dailekh - district profile
Dailekh (UNFCO 2013) District profile
Capital Dailekh Bazaar
Elevation range 544 Mt to 4168 Mt Latitude 28°55'51.55'' Longitude 81°43'0.07'' Area 1,505 km² Total Population 261.770 Men Population 126.990 Women Population 134.780 HDI value 0.381
Deaths related to natural disasters 2001-2010 (K.C.
2013) 17
Affected families 310
Dailekh is the neighbouring district of Surkhet, and although considered as flat/mid-hilly and the overall elevation range is lower than is Surkhet, the VDCs where the study has been conducted were located in high hills, which definitely made a difference in terms of types of hazards affecting the communities. The main challenges of this district are mainly the limited accessibility, due to the formation of the terrain, the lack of economic opportunities and the limited availability of cultivated land and irrigation facilities (UNFCO 2013). The research has been performed in two specific VDCs of Dailekh, namely Seri and Baraha; the table below shows the main characteristics of the two VDCs visited.
Table 6: Dailekh - VDCs profile
VDCs Seri Baraha Elevation range 1453 1101 Latitude 28°44'04.66'' 28°45'03.13'' Longitude 81°36'39.70'' 81°37'56.62'' Total Population 2.143 3.863 Male Population 2143 1883 Female Population 1162 1980
As clear from the table, the VDCs visited are at a quite high elevation range (1453 and 1101) and with a smaller total population comparing to the VDCs visited in Surkhet. As it was the case for Surkhet, the field study has been performed in two specific wards,
Table 7: Dailekh - Wards profile
Wards Palta Chisapani Rittha
3.2.2 Field research organization
Table 8: Field research organization
Date Description of Work / Activities Responsible form partner
organization and Oxfam
Remarks 15-August 013 Arrived in Surkhet Birendranagar and Discussion on questionnaires
with Oxfam and Partner Staffs.
Madan/Susan/ Jagat Schedule has been changed after the discussion.
16-August 013 Travel for Mehelkuna Surkhet and orientation to Partner staffs. Focus group Discussion in Mehelkuna-4 Sunderkhali including interview with community people in Sunderkhali
Prakash/Dinesh/ Madan/Susan
Night stay in Mehelkuna.
17-August 013 Two focus group discussions in Bhulke and household survey conducted.
Prakash/ Dinesh/ Madan Night stay in Mehelkuna 18-August 013 Focus group discussion in Sahare Bhulke and in a school with
children of age 9-13 conducted. Household survey has been conducted as well.
Prakash/ Dinesh/ Madan Total questionnaires collected: 72. Night Stay in Birendranagar
19-August 013 Translation of field data and orientation with the interpreter hired for Dailekhlekh field visit.
Prakash/ Dinesh/ Madan Night Stay in Birendranagar 20-August 013 Birendranagar to Dailekh (Gurashe),
Orientation on the questionnaire to partner staffs. Focus group and household survey conducted.
Madan/ Chitra/ Ramesh Night stay in Gurase Dailekh
21-August 013 Focus group discussion in Chishapani community and household survey.
Madan/ Chitra/ Ramesh 1/2 hour travelling by motorbike from Gurase. (Night stay in Gurase)
22-August 013 Focus group discussion in Seri –Dailekh and with children conducted. Household survey conducted as well.
Madan/ Chitra/ Ramesh Questionnaires collected: 72. Trip back and night stay in Birendranagar,
4. Research Process and Methods
4.1 Structure of the research
Figure 4: Structure of the research
I started this thesis through an extensive literature review that lasted for several months, as I added sources along with my data collection and analysis, and I then decided where to base my research, in Nepal. Once in Nepal I developed an interview schedule design (namely the questionnaire and the FGD) together with secondary data collection of the most important Nepalese developments in terms of policies and researches. In this regard, the informal meetings with important stakeholders in the field of DRR and CCA in Nepal significantly helped me to frame this research in a very context-specific manner. After framing my data collection tool, I went to the field and I performed the research. Back in Europe I started with the writing, and especially the data analysis and discussion.
Data analysis and interpretation
Thesis presentation Transect walk
Questionnaire Focus group
discussion Field study
Literature review
Site selection
Methodology Secondary data
collection Primary data
While analysing the data and discussing the findings, I went back to my literature to consolidate what I discovered in the field with already existing studies. This strategy helped me to make the research more scientific, and knowing the limitation of this study given the methods and the small-scale character of the research itself.
4.2 Timeframe of the research
Hereafter there is a table that defines the timeframe of the research, from the desk analysis, through the field research and finally to the writing of the thesis. The total amount of time spent on the thesis is 11 months, from May 2013 to March 2014.
Figure 5: Timeframe of the research
