Establishing public accountability, speaking truth to power and inducing political will for disaster risk reduction: ‘Ocho Rios + 25’

Abstract

The problem is that disaster risk reduction (DRR) is still more a zone of political darkness than of light. Therefore, the purpose of our contribution to this theme issue is to illuminate at least some of that zone of political darkness and to suggest a more proactive, but for many career professionals a personally problematic, way forward for DRR. The career problematic derives from the fact that the way forward would involve moving from applauding the emergence of elected and/or appointed champions (from mayors to cabinet ministers to presidents/prime ministers) for action to raising the political costs of inaction by leaders not otherwise disposed. The essential element of this way forward would be greatly enhanced public accountability. We will draw preliminary accountability lessons from the Haiti earthquake catastrophe and the Chile earthquake disaster 2010 events towards the conclusion of this paper as we outline a possible future paradigm

Fairness and accountability of AI in disaster risk management: Opportunities and challenges

“…A relationship between an actor and a forum, in which (a) the actor has an obligation to explain and justify his or her plans of action and/or conduct, (b) the forum may pose questions, require more information, solicit other views, and pass judgement, and (c) the actor may see positive or negative formal and/or informal consequences as a result (Olson et al,7 p. 61).…”

“…The 2010 Haiti earthquake is a case in point. As Olson et al 7 argue, the Haitian state allowed Port au Prince to evolve in a ll OPEN ACCESS way that created extreme vulnerabilities. Port au Prince was not legible to the state; there was no record of land-use planning.…”

“…Research shows that algorithms trained on biased datasets fail to recognize historically excluded groups in society (e.g., Barocas and Selbst 6 ). Accountability relates to the mechanism or process through which a forum can hold an actor to justify their actions (see Olson et al,7 pp. 60-61).…”

The Changing Face of Accountability in Humanitarianism: Using Artificial Intelligence for Anticipatory Action

“…DRR is new humanitarianism at its most politically expressive. It requires proactively 'inducing political will' with unprecedented levels of 'public accountability' (Olson, Sarmiento, & Hoberman, 2011). This paradigm forces "DRR onto political and policy agendas at all relevant levels and across all relevant sectors and provides a combination of spotlight and microscope on development/redevelopment proposals or actions that have hazard-and therefore risk-implications" (p. 60).…”

Governance in the Sendai: a way ahead?

“…There has not been much of focus on bringing more science and evidence to making accountability central in DRR. Olson et al (2011) highlight the “inducing political will” paradigm that calls for a five step process ranging from creating investigations to making information available publicly; and creating ways so that nobody hides behind the frame of “we didn’t know” by making risk and vulnerability assessment catalogues for the government. Further, successful implementation of the Sendai requires non-traditional modes of governance (Munene et al , 2018) with one of them being stringent actions to ensure accountability.…”