Re-scaling risk governance using local appraisal and community involvement

Abstract

This paper describes a risk governance model applied on a local scale, showing the advantages and constraints found during its application. The risk governance model, built on a municipal scale, results from the application of the International Risk Governance Council framework. The model is characterised by the cyclicity between the assessment and management spheres, assuming communication to be essential in all stages. Its application in central Portugal is rooted in a specific knowledge of hazards and their impacts, the human and financial constraints, and the expectations of citizens and stakeholders. The results show that preformatted management solutions derived from national civil protection stakeholders can be adapted to a local physical, social and institutional context. It was found that this depends significantly on the stakeholders' concerns assessment, as this allows the subsequent risk management options to be adapted and legitimised. As a result, more appropriate land-use regulations and mitigation strategies are being designed, which are related to urban planning, road design, risk sensitisation and communication tools. However, two features are likely to lead to an overlapping of competences and conflicts concerning responsibility for decision-making in the actual civil protection structure: the current constraints on resources on an operational level and the potentially inadequate representation of stakeholders on a strategic level.

Territorial Vulnerability Assessment Supporting Risk Managing Coastal Areas Due to Tsunami Impact

“…These made possible a management and planning process by identifying areas of potentially affected critical infrastructure and urban fabric, allowing timely intervention in these areas to reduce vulnerabilities or plan for their relocation outside of the danger area. This local approach is more recognized by land use planning or emergency municipal managers [46,47], in result of the distinctive display in the territory of the impacts resulting from a tsunami inundation. Based on these results, it is determined that authorities in the Setúbal study area should carry out of preliminary training exercises and consider relocating the firehouse outside of the impact area.…”

Assessing population exposure for landslide risk analysis using dasymetric cartography

“…Although overall vulnerability models are consistent at different scales, the aims and variables that drive an analysis at municipal scale are different from those used at the town scale, whereby a rescaling of approaches is essential (Mendes et al, 2010;Tavares and Santos, 2014;Tavares et al, 2015). Additionally, there are countries like Portugal where, due to privacy policies, the best source of population data (e.g.…”

“…dos Guillard-Gonçalves et al, 2015), and on census data, which mainly indicate the night-time distribution of the population (e.g. Aubrecht et al, 2013;Fraser et al, 2014;Tavares and Santos, 2014). For this reason some authors tried to evaluate the population fluctuation (daily, seasonal, historical) in order to assess the distribution of exposed people (e.g.…”

A Blue Urban Agenda: Adapting to Climate Change in the Coastal Cities of Caribbean and Pacific Small Island Developing States

“…Additionally, governments can institute small changes, such as job descriptions that require actions and provide incentives to act in new ways (e.g., for line managers and sector policymakers) or by providing training and clear guidance to staff (Moser, 2006;Carmin, Chu, and Dodman, et al, 2013;Tavares and Santos, 2013). Budgetary transparency and metrics to measure progress on adaptation can also help institutionalise changes in planning and policy practice (OECD, 2012).…”