ヘーワワサム ヴィンディヤ

The 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Egypt made a historical decision on disaster loss and damage for vulnerable countries. Even though parties agreed to salvage vulnerable nations with generous support, a fundamental question remains as to the extent to which these vulnerable countries can accurately identify the most vulnerable communities/areas. In Sri Lanka, informal businesses are particularly vulnerable to floods, but their informal status has limited the extent to which they could receive flood protection, including disaster-resilient infrastructure developments. The main objective of this paper, therefore, is to identify challenges that informal businesses have experienced in dealing with flood disaster risks. In doing so, we analyzed government policies and laws that are related to business formalization and disaster management. We also conducted interviews with key informants to verify our data. Our analysis found that the Sri Lankan government requires informal business owners to follow complicated rules to register their businesses. For these owners, who are not highly educated, these processes and fear of high tax rates discouraged registering their businesses. The central government tends to prioritize flood mitigation actions for formalized business areas. Informal businesses are not usually covered by flood insurance and compensation. In conclusion, we emphasize the need to establish widely available legal and administrative support for informal businesses to register. Adopting business continuity plans (BCPs) and keeping standardized business records also help businesses minimize flood loss and damage.

<jats:p>Purpose: Informal businesses contribute to more than half of employment and livelihoods in developing countries, but we do not know much about the extent to which natural disasters affect them. In Sri Lanka, informal businesses arguably represent 96% of commercial establishments although there have been questions about who they are and their flood vulnerability in terms of loss and damage. This paper attempts to better understand informal businesses of Sri Lanka with more details, revealing current data discrepancies. It also clarifies what factors affected past flood loss and damage. Methodology: To better understand informal business owners’ perceptions about flood vulnerability, we conducted a questionnaire survey among 180 small business owners in Colombo and Gampaha districts from February to March 2023. The questionnaire was designed based on the vulnerability function developed by IPCC and had 32 questions.  The participants were randomly selected from six divisional secretariat divisions (DSDs) in each district.  Additionally, interviews and online discussions were conducted among the main government stakeholders before and after the questionnaire survey. The data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS and presented in descriptive forms, including tables, figures, and graphs. Findings: The results show that Gampaha business owners had relatively higher flood vulnerability than Colombo, mainly due to low education achievements, single-owned businesses, lower annual turnover and asset value and lack of mitigation measures. We found that business registration practices at government agencies played a significant role in leaving many businesses informal, and our survey shows that only 16.7% in Colombo and 12.2% in Gampaha had operated registered/formal businesses. We calculated an annual average flood loss and damage among these businesses to be in the range of LKR 50,000-100,000 per business. Those businesses that had experienced higher loss and damage exhibited low disaster risk awareness/preparedness and financial difficulties. Our factor analysis found that education, ownership and size of businesses, registration status and availability of government compensation led to regional differences in terms of flood preparedness and vulnerability. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: This study shows the specific vulnerability factors faced by informal business owners in dealing with floods. To better reflect the community vulnerability to floods, it is recommended to incorporate the above vulnerability factors in disaster loss and damage assessment and related policies and strategies. Further, it is necessary to adopt a more flexible framework for business registration and formalization to minimize disaster vulnerability.</jats:p>