Giuseppe Forino

A Conceptual Governance Framework for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction Integration

Climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) have similar targets and goals in relation to climate change and related risks. The integration of CCA in core DRR operations is crucial to provide simultaneous benefits for social systems coping with challenges posed by climate extremes and climate change. Although state actors are generally responsible for governing a public issue such as CCA and DRR integration, the reform of top-down governing modes in neoliberal societies has enlarged the range of potential actors to include non state actors from economic and social communities. These new intervening actors require in-depth investigation. To achieve this goal, the article investigates the set of actors and their bridging arrangements that create and shape governance in CCA and DRR integration. The article conducts a comprehensive literature review in order to retrieve main actors and arrangements. The article summarizes actors and arrangements into a conceptual governance framework that can be used as a backdrop for future research on the topic. However, this framework has an explorative form, which must be refined according to site- and context-specific variables, norms, or networks. Accordingly, this article promotes an initial application of the framework to different contexts. Scholars may adopt the framework as a roadmap with which to corroborate the existence of a theoretical and empirical body of knowledge on governance of CCA and DRR integration.

Disaster recovery: narrating the resilience process in the reconstruction of L’Aquila (Italy)

The paper uses a disaster resilience (hereafter DR) framework to investigate the case study of L’Aquila, Italy, affected by an earthquake in 2009. It considers DR as a shared and dynamic process integrating the capacities of individuals and communities, and enacted by place-based emergent groups (hereafter EGs). The paper aims to narrate DR in L’Aquila from the grassroots’ standpoint using semi-structured interviews, analysing the EG’s ideas and initiatives in reconstructing the city. It asserts that the integration of this DR into institutional strategies would have more successful targeted the needs of local communities during the reconstruction process. Conclusions frame the reconstruction in L’Aquila within the context of Italian disaster management, and discuss how this case study can be evidence for studies on disaster recovery and resilience.

Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation Policy in Australia

Abstract Disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change (CC) are pressing fields of action for scholars, practitioners and policy-makers to promote a sustainable level of wellbeing for local communities and to increase the resilience of communities coping with multi-origin hazards. Unfortunately, in the case of Australia, there is evidence to suggest that disaster risk reduction and climate-change policy is highly fragmented and politicised (von Meding et al., 2013). The main focus of this paper is, therefore, to develop a deep understanding of the underpinning factors of local, regional and national policies in Australia. In terms of policy and multilevel integration of policies, we will particularly focus on the risk of failure to adapt to climate change in Australia. The national and local Australian context will be analysed in terms of its recent past experiences in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation policies, stressing on the changes through the years, investigating key terminology, frameworks and goals. These will be described and critically analysed in a multilevel context, beginning with national government objectives and working through to the local dimension of these policies. A clear and comprehensive analysis of the evolution of local, regional and national policy in Australia, as well as a critique on the past and current effectiveness of implementation, will pave the way for further research to take place towards DRR and CCA action.

Disaster Vulnerability of Displaced People in Rakhine State, Myanmar

In Rakhine State (Myanmar), there has been intercommunal conflict and violence between the Rohingya ethnic minority and the Burmese population for decades. The conflict in 2012 resulted in the Rohingya population of the state confined to certain villages and internally displaced persons (IDP) camps. There are ongoing reports of violence in Rakhine State, including evidence of escalating state-sponsored violence in the 2016/2017 crackdown. Since the 1970s, over 1 million Rohingyas fled the country, and those who stayed live in constant fear. A further half a million people have left Rakhine after resurging violence between August and October 2017. Affected Rohingyas in Rakhine live in makeshift housing. They have no access to basic needs; their trade opportunities are limited and have movement restrictions. These oppressive realities have left Rohingya communities in an exceptionally vulnerable and critically unstable situation. Although these communities are frequently at risk from flooding, they face extremely destructive cyclones from time to time (e.g. Cyclone Nargis in 2008 killed over 100,000 people in Myanmar). The research aims to identify the key contributing factors to cyclone vulnerability in Rakhine State. We studied three different communities that are vulnerable to cyclones: an IDP camp, a village with a predominantly Rohingya population and a village with a predominantly Burmese population. These communities were chosen to ensure that the findings are representative of the various living conditions in Rakhine and represent the unique characteristics of each community. The research project adopted a mixed methods approach, involving case studies with multiple data sources. This paper presents preliminary results from a part of the study: a quantitative analysis of the questionnaire data (N = 156) gathered from the three communities. Our data identifies clear differences between the three communities and provides evidence of the key drivers of vulnerability in Rakhine State. The research will make a valuable contribution to the effectiveness of disaster risk reduction efforts in Rakhine State and will contribute to ongoing advocacy effort for the Rohingya people of Myanmar.

Critical dimensions for the effective design and use of simulation exercises for emergency management in higher education

Purpose There is a need to provide more effective learning experiences for higher education (HE) students in transdisciplinary contexts such as disasters and emergency management. While much has been written on the value of simulation exercises (SEs) for emergency management practitioners, research has focussed less on their value for HE students. The purpose of this paper is to identify how a practitioner-oriented framework for the design and use of SEs in emergency management is relevant to the HE context and how this framework may need to be adapted to support effective learning by HE students. Design/methodology/approach An interpretive approach based on a qualitative content analysis of 16 semi-structured interviews with emergency management practitioners and educators is used to enable an in-depth understanding of the social phenomena to be obtained. Findings The paper highlights that a framework for the design and use of SEs for emergency management practitioners is potentially valuable in the HE context but should be applied in a nuanced way. Research limitations/implications The paper is based on a small number of interviews and future studies could usefully analyse a wider set of perspectives (e.g. students), using a variety of alternative methods (e.g. surveys), to further test and/or enrich the framework. Practical implications Insights from the paper can inform the design and use of SEs in the HE context with a view to supporting more effective learning that better prepares students to operate during disaster events when they enter the emergency management workforce. Originality/value This is the first paper that has investigated the value of a practitioner-oriented framework for the design and use of disaster SEs in the HE context. In so doing, the paper has highlighted how the dimensions of the framework apply in the HE context and has revealed other issues that need to be addressed to support effective learning by HE students.

Factors Influencing Post-disaster Reconstruction Project Management for Housing Provision in the Gaza Strip, Occupied Palestinian Territories

In the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the Gaza Strip has suffered regular cycles of reconstruction due to systematic destruction during Israeli military operations, as in 2006, 2008–2009, 2012, and 2014. In this context of ongoing conflict this article aims to identify, rank, and discuss the most important factors influencing post-disaster reconstruction project management (PDRPM) for housing in the Gaza Strip. A set of key factors that influence PDRPM were assembled as a result of a global literature review. A questionnaire survey was conducted, and the obtained data were analyzed using a relative importance index for each PDRPM factor. Findings are presented in six groups: housing approaches, organizational behavior, project funding, supply chain and logistics, communication and coordination, and PDRPM context. Findings indicate that the most significant factors that influence PDRPM for housing provision in the Gaza Strip are related to issues associated with financial resources. It is critical that sufficient funding should be available in order to allow organizations to undertake housing projects in an effective and efficient way. Joint efforts are required from international donors and local organizations in order to effectively manage financial resources with the ultimate goal of improving PDRPM for housing provision.

From Gevgelija to Budapest: The bare life in transit camps of the Balkans and Eastern Europe

At the end of August 2015, the refugee crisis was mounting across the whole European Union, and particularly in the Balkans and Eastern Europe. Things were becoming heated, not only in terms of high temperatures, but also in terms of tension and debate within the European Union about how to manage what was, and still is, rightly considered a humanitarian crisis (Forino, 2015). Refugees from the Middle East, mainly – but not limited to – fleeing from conflict areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, Syria, and Iraq, were trying to enter the European Union area via Turkey and Greece, towards aspired destinations in Northern Europe. In the Balkan area and Eastern Europe, refugees were contained in organized or spontaneous transit camps close to national borders or in the main railway stations of cities. In those camps, ignominious conditions of depersonalization and deprivation of human rights and primary needs took place for thousands of people. Those lives and those bodies, in those conditions, were a classic example of the “bare life” as theorized by the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben (2005). The bare life of refugees results from a neoliberal governance of the European Union and member states, using the state of exception as a core instrument of national sovereignty, and dividing people – and related rights – who have a recognized citizenship under a legal system from those who do not (Agamben, 2005). This life becomes stripped of any political and legal significance and protection, banished from collectivity, and perpetually exposed to violation and deprivation (Ziarek, 2012). During that time, I was traveling on my own, and had neither volunteerism or research purposes, nor was I working for non-governmental organizations or international institutions. Therefore, this report is simply based on a personal and subjective experience (see also Forino, 2015). The report presents a very brief description of the life conditions and the surrounding environments of the transit camps, in the following order: Gevgelija (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, FYROM), on the FYROM-Greece border; the Central Station in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia; Kanjiža (Serbia), on the Serbia-Hungary border; and the Keleti Station in Budapest, the capital of Hungary. Camps were visited between 28 August