Limited Involvement of Socially Vulnerable Populations in Federal Programs to Mitigate Wildfire Risk in Arizona

Ojerio, Ryan S.; Moseley, Cassandra; Lynn, Kathy; Bania, Neil

doi:10.1061/(asce)nh.1527-6996.0000027

Cited by 75 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Social vulnerability assessments typically compare the mean value of selected metrics for a broad range of populations across a geographic area (e.g., a county or census block) (Gaither et al 2015;Krietler et al 2015). Assumptions about what sociodemographic characteristics make people more or less vulnerable to a given disturbance are based on lessons from previous hazard research (Ojerio et al 2011;Poudyal et al 2012). Characteristics used in social vulnerability analysis often are summed (predominantly with equal weights) as a composite index to assess overall vulnerability to a hazard.…”

Section: Vulnerability To Wildfirementioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the Characteristics of Social Vulnerability to Wildfire: Demographics, Perceptions, and Parcel Characteristics

Paveglio

Prato

Edgeley

et al. 2016

Environmental Management

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A large body of research focuses on identifying patterns of human populations most at risk from hazards and the factors that help explain performance of mitigations that can help reduce that risk. One common concept in such studies is social vulnerability-human populations' potential exposure to, sensitivity from and ability to reduce negative impacts from a hazard. While there is growing interest in social vulnerability for wildfire, few studies have critically evaluated the characteristics that scholars often indicate influence social vulnerability to that hazard. This research utilizes surveys, wildfire simulations, and GIS data to test the relationships between select demographic, perceptual and parcel characteristics of property owners against empirically simulated metrics for wildfire exposure or wildfire-related damages and their performance of mitigation actions. Our results from Flathead County, MT, USA, suggest that parcel characteristics such as property value, building value, and the year structures were built explaining a significant amount of the variance in elements of social vulnerability. Demographic characteristics commonly used in social vulnerability analysis did not have significant relationships with measures of wildfire exposure or vulnerability. Part-time or full-time residency, age, perceived property risk, and year of development were among the few significant determinants of residents' performance of fuel reduction mitigations, although the significance of these factors varied across the levels of fuel reduction performed by homeowners. We use these and other results to argue for a renewed focus on the finer-scale characteristics that expose some populations to wildfire risk more than others.

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Section: Vulnerability To Wildfirementioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the Characteristics of Social Vulnerability to Wildfire: Demographics, Perceptions, and Parcel Characteristics

Paveglio

Prato

Edgeley

et al. 2016

Environmental Management

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“…Within all societies, certain individuals and groups are particularly vulnerable, lacking the capacity to adapt to climate change [54] (p. 719). Demographic variables affect the ability of individuals and urban communities to cope with environmental risk and future uncertainties through risk mitigation, response, and recovery in the event of natural disasters [55,56]. The degree of vulnerability is influenced by several factors; the most important of which are income, education and language skills, gender, age, physical and mental capacity, accessibility to resources and political power, and social capital [55,56].…”

Section: Equitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Demographic variables affect the ability of individuals and urban communities to cope with environmental risk and future uncertainties through risk mitigation, response, and recovery in the event of natural disasters [55,56]. The degree of vulnerability is influenced by several factors; the most important of which are income, education and language skills, gender, age, physical and mental capacity, accessibility to resources and political power, and social capital [55,56]. Some argue that the opposite relations are true, namely that inequality causes greater environmental degradation and that a more equitable distribution of power and resources would improve environmental quality [57].…”

Section: Equitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Sustainability: A New Conceptual Framework

2017

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Abstract:There is a lack of theoretical and empirical studies regarding social sustainability. The literature reveals that the "social" was integrated late into debates on sustainable development. This paper aims to fill this gap and proposes a new conceptual framework of social sustainability. We suggest that risk is a constitutive concept of sustainability and that the contemporary conditions of risk resulting primarily from climate change and its ensuing uncertainties pose serious social, spatial, structural, and physical threats to contemporary human societies and their living spaces. Within the framework of sustainability, we propose that social sustainability strives to confront risk while addressing social concerns. Although we agree that without socially oriented practices, efforts to achieve sustainability will be undermined, as too many gaps exist in practice and theory. Thus, we propose a comprehensive Conceptual Framework of Social Sustainability, which is composed of four interrelated concepts of socially oriented practices, where each concept has a distinctive function in the framework and incorporates major social aspects. The concept of Equity encompasses three dimensions: recognition, which "revalues unjustly devalued identities", redistribution, which suggests that the remedy for injustice is some form of economic restructuring, and parity of participation, which promotes substantive public involvement in the production of space. These efforts may, in turn, reduce alienation and enhance civility and a sense of community and place attachment. The concept of Safety is the ontological foundation of sustainability in general and social sustainability in particular. The concept refers to the right to not only be safe but adopt all measures of adaptation and security to prevent future casualties and physical harm. The concept of Eco-prosumption refers to modes of producing and gaining values in socially and environmentally responsible ways. The concept of Urban Forms represents the physical dimensions of socially desired urban and community physical forms. Eventually, a desired physical form should promote a sense of community, safety, health, and place attachment, among other environmental objectives.

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“…In the context of fire, social scientists have developed indicators of social vulnerability and adaptive capacity that can be useful for evaluating how to allocate agency resources to communities to help them reduce their fire risk (e.g., Ojerio et al 2011). …”

Section: Invest In Project Work Strategicallymentioning

confidence: 99%

Science synthesis to support socioecological resilience in the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade Range

Long¹,

Quinn‐Davidson²,

Skinner³

2014

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Limited Involvement of Socially Vulnerable Populations in Federal Programs to Mitigate Wildfire Risk in Arizona

Cited by 75 publications

References 20 publications

Evaluating the Characteristics of Social Vulnerability to Wildfire: Demographics, Perceptions, and Parcel Characteristics

Evaluating the Characteristics of Social Vulnerability to Wildfire: Demographics, Perceptions, and Parcel Characteristics

Social Sustainability: A New Conceptual Framework

Science synthesis to support socioecological resilience in the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade Range

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