Phil O'Keefe

Disaster resilience: bouncing back or bouncing forward?

The debate on disaster resilience has continued to grow, albeit at a slow pace, since the 2005 World Conference on Disaster Reduction held in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan. One of the most important and striking aspects is that despite the conceptual differences, the resilience and vulnerability paradigms are still locked together and are increasingly being treated as if they are one and the same. The reason for this is not a difficult one. Resilience and vulnerability are viewed as opposite sides of the same coin (Twigg 2007). However, the notion of “bounce back” differentiates resilience from vulnerability. The “bounce back” notion is important to the extent that it liberates resilience from the vulnerability conundrum. Yet, the “bounce back” notion does not seem to acknowledge that disasters are accompanied by change. This paper posits that resilience should be viewed as the ability to “bounce forward” and “move on” following a disaster (Manyena 2009). Three arguments are presented in this paper. First, the “bounce forward” ability conceptualisation of resilience has implications on disaster research and scholarship. It helps us to re-think about the underlying philosophical arguments, particularly those around structure and agency. Secondly, resilience has temporal and continuity elements, which have implications for preand post-disaster planning, including community continuity recovery planning. Lastly, the “bounce forward” conception has psychological implications. It is optimistic, with a potential of assisting disaster victims and service providers to adopt positive behaviour changes prior to and after the disaster.

Climate adaptation from a poverty perspective

Adaptation to already discernible climate changes, particularly an increase in extreme events, is an urgent task for all nations. This article argues that adaptation is an urgent priority, especially for the developing world, to build a resilient society. For poor nations, poverty alleviation is the main policy driver, although changes in livelihood strategies are driven by a range of factors. Using a case study, direct and indirect adaptation is examined with reference to the specific livelihoods of the Chagga people on Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Evidence suggests that coping strategies to maintain livelihood systems can work against long-term adaptation to climate change, unless there is linkage to poverty alleviation. Linking climate change adaptation to project development through notions of additionality does not carry sufficient leverage to simultaneously address poverty alleviation and climate change. It is suggested that, rather than micro-economic project management, a broader macro-economic frame be established. A rights-based approach is argued as a vital driver for informing financial, institutional, political and technological policies and instruments.

Approaching disaster management through social learning

Purpose – Coping with and adjusting to disruptive challenges has always been a characteristic of human development. Formalisation of this has led to the emergence of a number approaches addressing disruptive challenges. Often formalised practice has a narrow focus. Increasingly complex challenges require a refocus of formalised approaches. Drawing from these approaches, the purpose of this paper is to posit that a greater focus on preparedness through pre‐disaster planning is needed for a more holistic approach to disaster management.Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews the evolution of disaster management thinking and practice and proposes that changes are needed to the dominant disaster management model. These changes are drawn from a number of alternative perspectives. Based on the uncertainties surrounding complex or “wicked” problems, for example, climate change and variability, this paper develops a more holistic approach.Findings – Responding to “wicked problems” requires a greater focus...

Urban fuelwood challenges and dilemmas

Abstract This paper explores the use of fuelwood in Third World cities. The importance of fuelwood and the factors which condition its use in cities are set out and three fuelwood problems are identified: the cost to urban consumers, fuel supply security and the impact of urban fuelwood markets on rural areas. Urban fuelwood interventions are evaluated, with four categories identified: interventions in marketing, conservation, increased, wood production and fuel-switching. Of these, fuel-switching by improved supply systems and increased production from smallholders and better management of natural woodlands appear to have the greatest potential. The need for flexibility/community participation in planning is stressed.

Energy, poverty and governance

To make any progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a new approach to energy systems for the poorer nations is needed. Equally, a new approach to energy should shape thinking in the developed and industrializing world about energy futures. All countries need to have access to clean, affordable and reliable energy services that do not exacerbate the climate change risks. A global energy policy will emerge, but by the backdoor of environment policy. This article is in three parts. First, it examines the problem in the developing world. Second, it ‐establishes a framework for evaluating the approach to energy systems. Third, it argues that technology transfer as commonly practised is not an appropriate vector. In concluding, this article sets out an approach at international level.

Planning for sustainability: Access to fuelwood in Dhanusha District, Nepal

Abstract This paper examines the problem of putting sustainable development ideas into practice through the detailed consideration of a recent fuelwood planning exercise in Dhanusha District in southern Nepal. The ways in which biomass fuels are produced and used are examined through their relationship to tenurial relations and proximity to the districts forest area. From this, the scale and nature of fuelwood problems are identified and a strategy to develop sustainable solutions to these problems is advanced. This strategy is based on the involvement of the local community at every stage of the planning process and the empowerment of local people through their direct control over decisions on the use of land and financial resources. The study concludes that sustainable planning is possible, but is far from easy. Above all, it depends on a different relationship between agencies of the state and the local communities which planning is intended to help.

Politics, history & problems of humanitarian assistance in Sudan

It is increasingly widely recognised that humanitarian assistance is broadly understood in two distinct ways: one is to see it as a part of foreign policy, which is the customary position of donating states; the other is to see it as independent of governments and a matter of relieving suffering without distinction and is embodied in the Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross/ Red Crescent family. The present authors argue that any intervention is necessarily a political event and they support this contention with an examination of assistance in Sudan in general and Darfur in particular. In describing the way in which donating states concentrated on the settlement between Khartoum and south Sudan to the detriment of intervention in Darfur in time to forestall massive human slaughter, the authors are pointing to political failure. They also maintain that the consequence of not recognising and examining the political nature of humanitarian assistance is to reduce people affected by emergencies of all kinds to the status of victim, which deprives them of the ability to be the principal agents of their own recovery.

Fuelwood policies for the 1990s

Abstract The paper provides a review of policy issues and options associated with the role of biomass as an energy resource. It seeks to demonstrate how such policies can be set in the context of local circumstances. The analysis focuses on the relationship of fuelwood problems to other development issues, recognizing that these problems are primarily a consequence of the interaction of environmental and economic forces at a local level. A series of fundamental policy reforms are an essential pre-condition to finding local answers to fuelwood problems. These policy reforms are the main focus of this paper.

Developing a model for building resilience to climate risks for cultural heritage

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a model for developing climate adaptation strategies to reduce climate risk for cultural heritage. Cultural heritage has an important role in human well-being. This paper posits that cultural heritage requires an approach that recognises the uniqueness of cultural heritage. The paper draws from the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) Making My City Resilient campaign and the Heart of the City Partnership in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, and proposes a Cultural Heritage Adaptation Forum. The role of the forum is to develop adaptation strategies in a sustainable development context. This is an original attempt to link cultural heritage to climate risk. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws from two initiatives and uses good practice established from the disaster management and climate communities and proposes a Cultural Heritage Adaptation Forum that can be used to formulate adaptation interventions for cultural heritage....

Resilient responses to climate change and variability: a challenge for public policy

Climate change produces future risks and increasing climate variability produces current risks. Reducing disaster risk is addressed at the national level using approaches usually developed by the United Nations. These approaches, particularly in the developed world, address resilience building but practice is top-down and reactive. Effective resilience building requires a bottom-up participatory approach aimed at enhancing adaptive capacity. Using climate change and variability as a vehicle, this article posits that, without a shift in public policy, effective resilience could be jeopardised. Key to successful adaptation has been the willingness to learn how to develop a coherent set of principles that can inform a new approach to public policy for disaster management.