Disaster risk reduction and climate change
This book (published May 2015) is the result of two conferences held in Germany to increase under... more This book (published May 2015) is the result of two conferences held in Germany to increase understanding of the significance of culture as a factor in people's behaviour in relation to natural hazards.
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The annual WDR from the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent examines the significa... more The annual WDR from the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent examines the significance of culture as a missing element in disaster risk reduction. It analyses two types of culture: that related to people's beliefs about disasters, and the institutional culture of organizations that attempt DRR.
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The concepts vulnerability, resilience and community are widely used and abused in the literature... more The concepts vulnerability, resilience and community are widely used and abused in the literature on natural hazards and disaster risk reduction. This paper seeks to bring greater rigour in their use. In particular, vulnerability must be understood as a set of socioeconomic conditions that are identifiable in relation to particular hazard risks, and therefore perform a predictive role that can assist in risk reduction. Resilience is often confused as a concept, sometimes seen as the inverse of vulnerability, and by others as an independent quality. These confusions may be especially relevant in the context of policy for disaster risk reduction at the scale of community. Here there is often an idealized notion of community as undifferentiated and unproblematic.
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The purpose of this paper is to make an argument that there are different types of social constru... more The purpose of this paper is to make an argument that there are different types of social construction of disasters. The focus is on disasters triggered by natural hazards. It is now widely accepted that disasters are a product of a natural hazard having an impact on a vulnerable population. But the value of the concept of vulnerability is in danger of becoming less meaningful because it is removed from the political and economic processes that generate some vulnerabilities. On the other hand, there are some types of disasters that are relatively
“innocent”, in the sense that people live in places that are exposed to risk for purposes of access to their livelihood, and not because social forces or power relations have forced them to live there, or made some groups more vulnerable than others. If it is the case that some vulnerability is “innocent”, then forms of explanation are needed of people’s willingness to expose themselves to risk that go beyond the “strong” forms of social construction (where power relations are a key factor in generating the social construction of disasters). Instead, it is essential to examine “cultural” and psychological explanations
of people’s behaviour, including an understanding of group behaviour, religious beliefs and other aspects that often distinguish the perspective on risk taken by “insiders” compared with the supposedly rational and policy-oriented approach of “outsiders” who see it as their role to help reduce disaster risks.
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The paper discusses how the current climate change debate influences the way
in which development... more The paper discusses how the current climate change debate influences the way
in which development is conceptualised, negotiated and implemented. The objective of the
article is to explore some of the underlying controversies that characterise development
discourses in the context of climate change. Adaptation to climate change goes along with
a significant shift in discourses used to deal with what is normally called development.
This is reflected in shifting research interests and perspectives, from vulnerability studies to
resilience thinking. However, the paper argues, this shift is problematic for the normative
contents of development and especially for a pro-poor and grass roots perspective.
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Chapter from book "Cultures and Risk", Routledge 2015.
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Chapter from book on community-based adaptation.
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A. Varley ed. Disasters, Development and the Environment, Jan 1, 1994
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Floods, Jan 1, 2000
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First edition book At Risk: natural hazards, people's vulnerability and disasters published 1994.... more First edition book At Risk: natural hazards, people's vulnerability and disasters published 1994. Spanish translation by La red published 1996.
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Global Environmental Change, Jan 1, 2008
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Gender & Development, Jan 1, 2002
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London: DFID, Jan 1, 2003
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The term "community" is widely used in development, disaster risk reduction and climate change ad... more The term "community" is widely used in development, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. This article challenges the use of the concept and argues that it ignores the power relations that are mainly responsible for causing poverty and vulnerability.
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Desarrollo Y Transicion En Asia 2006 Isbn 84 87072 60 7 Pags 93 130, 2005
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China's Economic Growth, 2000
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“innocent”, in the sense that people live in places that are exposed to risk for purposes of access to their livelihood, and not because social forces or power relations have forced them to live there, or made some groups more vulnerable than others. If it is the case that some vulnerability is “innocent”, then forms of explanation are needed of people’s willingness to expose themselves to risk that go beyond the “strong” forms of social construction (where power relations are a key factor in generating the social construction of disasters). Instead, it is essential to examine “cultural” and psychological explanations
of people’s behaviour, including an understanding of group behaviour, religious beliefs and other aspects that often distinguish the perspective on risk taken by “insiders” compared with the supposedly rational and policy-oriented approach of “outsiders” who see it as their role to help reduce disaster risks.
in which development is conceptualised, negotiated and implemented. The objective of the
article is to explore some of the underlying controversies that characterise development
discourses in the context of climate change. Adaptation to climate change goes along with
a significant shift in discourses used to deal with what is normally called development.
This is reflected in shifting research interests and perspectives, from vulnerability studies to
resilience thinking. However, the paper argues, this shift is problematic for the normative
contents of development and especially for a pro-poor and grass roots perspective.
“innocent”, in the sense that people live in places that are exposed to risk for purposes of access to their livelihood, and not because social forces or power relations have forced them to live there, or made some groups more vulnerable than others. If it is the case that some vulnerability is “innocent”, then forms of explanation are needed of people’s willingness to expose themselves to risk that go beyond the “strong” forms of social construction (where power relations are a key factor in generating the social construction of disasters). Instead, it is essential to examine “cultural” and psychological explanations
of people’s behaviour, including an understanding of group behaviour, religious beliefs and other aspects that often distinguish the perspective on risk taken by “insiders” compared with the supposedly rational and policy-oriented approach of “outsiders” who see it as their role to help reduce disaster risks.
in which development is conceptualised, negotiated and implemented. The objective of the
article is to explore some of the underlying controversies that characterise development
discourses in the context of climate change. Adaptation to climate change goes along with
a significant shift in discourses used to deal with what is normally called development.
This is reflected in shifting research interests and perspectives, from vulnerability studies to
resilience thinking. However, the paper argues, this shift is problematic for the normative
contents of development and especially for a pro-poor and grass roots perspective.