This systematic study of disaster risk and disaster management efforts in Brunei Darussalam uncovers the reasons why floods and landslides in particular continue to inflict significant social, economic, and psychological toll. Vulnerability to the impacts of hydro-meteorological hazards continue to rise despite international awareness and improved disaster governance and information, and regardless of the vast financial and material resources spent on structural and nonstructural measures for disaster relief and community awareness. Our premise is that, a poor diagnosis of the disaster risk issue is at the root of the disaster risk dilemma in Brunei Darussalam. We conducted our vulnerability-centered disaster risk assessment based largely on the Pressure and Release (PAR) Model proposed by Wisner et al. Our research results reveal that: (1) Hazard-risk in Brunei is high due to the impact of global climate change, the country's local geography, and Brunei's relative location in the Asia-Pacific Region. Limited reporting of localized disasters to international databases however fuels the misperception of low disaster risk in Brunei; (2) High community vulnerability and disaster risk is due to limited knowledge, awareness, and motivation among the general population, which prevents effective mitigation and adaptation to low magnitude but recurrent hazardous events; and (3) Partial incorporation of disaster risk reduction into governance structures and development plans contributes to heightened disaster risks. Integrated frameworks are proposed that can minimize social vulnerability, reduce disaster risk, and enhance community resilience and adaptive capacity as part of a strengthened governance mechanism. Coupled with improvements in preparedness, response, recovery, and reconstruction promoted by the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC), vulnerability and disaster risk can be minimized, and a more inclusive and sustainable growth can be generated.
More than a decade ago the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) published Legal and Institutional Aspects of Integrated Coastal Area Management in National Legislation 1. The preface to that publication pointed out that integrated coastal area management law was a relatively new the field and that few jurisdictions had comprehensive legal frameworks to promote integrated coastal management. The situation has changed dramatically since then. Integrated coastal management (ICM) is now widely accepted throughout the world as the best approach to dealing with coastal issues and the 1990s saw a proliferation of legislative reform processes throughout the world aimed at supporting the implementation of ICM. This trend remains strong and many countries, including most of the Member States of the European Union, are in the process of strengthening the legislative basis for ICM. The urgency of addressing coastal issues is now considerably greater than it was a decade ago. Despite many international environmental treaties, declarations and other promises of action, the quality of coastal environments continues to deteriorate in most of the world. Many of the major pressures on coastal areas in the early 1990s have continued to intensify. Coastal fisheries in much of the world have continued to decline rapidly while the demand for coastal resources and the pollution of coastal waters has increased in most areas due to a variety of factors including increases in coastal populations. The full implications of other threats are only now becoming apparent or being appreciated fully. These include the risk arising from the transfer of pathogens and aquatic organisms in ships' ballast water, and the effects of climate change. Sea levels are rising and in many parts of the world disruptions of weather patterns are apparent in the increased frequency and intensity of storms. As a result, coastal erosion and flooding has increased, threatening coastal human populations and the natural environment. On the positive side, it is clear that globally there is now a far greater appreciation of the environmental, economic, social, cultural and recreational importance of coastal areas, and of the value of ICM. Indeed there is now 1
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