Economic Efficiency or Gender Equality: Conceptualizing an Equitable “Social Framing” for Economic Evaluations to Support Gender Equality in Disaster Risk- and Environmental-Management Decision-Making

It is unlikely that cost–benefit approaches will be effective in identifying investments that support gender equality without a relevant “social framing”. Criteria for a “social framing” are lacking, yet cost–benefit approaches often guide investment decisions for disaster risk and environmental management. Mainstream approaches typically do a poor job identifying and characterizing costs and benefits, and often fail to address distributive concerns (i.e., how costs and benefits may be distributed throughout society, to whom, etc.). Gender-blind investments may project responsibility for equality “problems” onto one sex, potentially augmenting gender inequalities and disaster risk. This article examines evidence from the gender, disaster, and development literature to identify distributive concerns and criteria for an equitable “social framing” for economic evaluations. Primary distributive concerns identified regard assumptions of women’s homogeneity, agency, “active” participation, and the influence of customary practice and displacement on disaster vulnerability. The need for a “gender-responsive” “social framing” that considers the needs of men and women in relation to one another is evident. Second, cost–benefit studies focused on gender equality concerns are reviewed and the “social framing” is critiqued. Results show most studies are not “gender-responsive”. Women’s health concerns, often exacerbated by disasters, are sidelined by assumptions regarding distributive concerns and reductive outcome measures

Integrating animal disease epidemics into disaster risk management

Purpose - Holistic approaches to public health such as ‘One Health’ emphasize the interconnectedness between people, animals, ecosystems, and epidemic risk, and many advocate for this philosophy to be adopted within disaster risk management (DRM). Historically, animal and human diseases have been managed separately from each other, and apart from other hazards considered for DRM. Shifts in DRM, however, may complement a One Health approach. The taxonomy of hazards considered under DRM has expanded to include medical and social crises such as epizootics and terrorism. However, there is a gap in understanding how epidemic risk is integrated into DRM at the community-level. Approach - TACTIC adopts a participatory case study approach examining preparedness for multiple hazard types (floods, epidemics, earthquakes, and terrorism) at the community-level. This article reports on findings from the epidemic case study which took as its focus the 2001 Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) epidemic in the UK because of the diverse human, social, and environmental impacts of this ‘animal’ disease. Findings - Epizootic preparedness tends to focus on biosecurity and phytosanitary measures, and is geared towards agriculture and farming. Greater engagement with public health and behavioral sciences to manage public health impacts of animal disease epidemics, and activities for citizen engagement to improve preparedness are discussed. The impermeability of boundaries (hazard, institutional, disciplinary, etc.) is a key constraint to integrating One Health into DRM. Originality - This work helps to situate the One Health discussion within the community-level DRM context

Operationalizing risk perception and preparedness behavior research for a multi-hazard context

Increasingly, citizens are being asked to take a more active role in disaster risk reduction (DRR), as decentralization of hazard governance has shifted greater responsibility for hazard preparedness actions onto individuals. Simultaneously, the taxonomy of hazards considered for DRR has expanded to include medical and social crises alongside natural hazards. Risk perception research emerged to support decision-makers with understanding how people characterize and evaluate different hazards to anticipate behavioral response and guide risk communication. Since its inception, the risk perception concept has been incorporated into many behavioral theories, which have been applied to examine preparedness for numerous hazard types. Behavioral theories have had moderate success in predicting or explaining preparedness behaviors; however, they are typically applied to a single hazard type and there is a gap in understanding which theories (if any) are suited for examining multiple hazard types simultaneously. This paper first reviews meta-analyses of behavioral theories to better understand performance. Universal lessons learnt are summarized for survey design. Second, theoretically based preparedness studies for floods, earthquakes, epidemics, and terrorism are reviewed to assess the conceptual requirements for a ‘multi-hazard’ preparedness approach. The development of an online preparedness self-assessment and learning platform is discussed

Conceptualizing and contextualizing research and policy for links between climate change and migration

Purpose – This paper aims to present a critical review of some literature on climate change and migration through conceptualizing and contextualizing the linkages between the two topics. Much literature on links between climate change and migration tends to downplay ambiguities in the terms and the limited empirical evidence. Conceptualizing refers to the knowledge gaps and the need to understand and detail (even if not agreeing on) conceptual issues such as terminology, definitions, linkages, drivers, thresholds, implications, data requirements and methodologies. Contextualizing refers to understanding the climate change and migration debate within wider topical and geographical contexts. Results identify major qualitative and quantitative gaps. Qualitatively, limited material exists on why people react differently to similar environmental stressors and why certain outcomes may arise. Quantitatively, credible and verifiable measures are not always available for assessing the climate change impacts on migration. This paper recommends a stratified, multi-disciplinary approach to facilitate policies regarding climate change and migration connections. Design/methodology/approach – Illustrative literature review, clustering important themes found in published research and policy documents. First, qualitative aspects are covered, particularly in terms of definitions and terminology. Second, quantitative aspects are detailed, particularly in terms of data available and estimates made. Further, the paper is organized around two distinct areas, i.e. conceptualizing and contextualizing climate change and migration links. Findings – Results identify major qualitative and quantitative gaps. Qualitatively, limited material exists on why people react differently to similar environmental stressors and why certain outcomes may arise. Quantitatively, credible and verifiable measures are not always available for assessing the climate change impacts on migration. This paper recommends a stratified, multi-disciplinary approach to facilitate policies regarding climate change and migration connections. Originality/value – Without being comprehensive in the literature covered, this paper provided a critical overview and synthesis of climate change and migration work through the lens of conceptualization and contextualization. Major gaps in the literature were identified through an illustrative, not complete, review. Qualitative and quantitative aspects were covered including definitions, terminology, data available and estimates being made

Indices for estimating fractional snow cover in the western Tibetan Plateau

ABSTRACT. Snow cover in the Tibetan Plateau is highly variable in space and time and plays a key role in ecological processes of this cold-desert ecosystem. Resolution of passive microwave data is too low for regional-scale estimates of snow cover on the Tibetan Plateau, requiring an alternate data source. Optically derived snow indices allow for more accurate quantification of snow cover using higherresolution datasets subject to the constraint of cloud cover. This paper introduces a new optical snow index and assesses four optically derived MODIS snow indices using Landsat-based validation scenes: MODIS Snow-Covered Area and Grain Size (MODSCAG), Relative Multiple Endmember Spectral Mixture Analysis (RMESMA), Relative Spectral Mixture Analysis (RSMA) and the normalized-difference snow index (NDSI). Pearson correlation coefficients were positively correlated with the validation datasets for all four optical snow indices, suggesting each provides a good measure of total snow extent. At the 95 % confidence level, linear least-squares regression showed that MODSCAG and RMESMA had accuracy comparable to validation scenes. Fusion of optical snow indices with passive microwave products, which provide snow depth and snow water equivalent, has the potential to contribute to hydrologic and energy-balance modeling in the Tibetan Plateau

How to Shape Climate Risk Policies After the Paris Agreement? The Importance of Perceptions as a Driver for Climate Risk Management

<p>Risk perception research has played an influential role in supporting risk management and</p> <p>risk communication policy. Risk perception studies are popular across a range of disciplines in the social</p> <p>and natural sciences for a wide range of hazard types. Their results have helped to articulate the complex</p> <p>individual, relational, structural, and environmental factors influencing people’s behavior. Connections</p> <p>between individual and collective behaviors and norms impacting global climate change, and conse-</p> <p>quently, local disaster risk, however, are infrequently included in disaster risk management. This paper</p> <p>presents results from two diverse and complementary European risk perception studies examining both</p> <p>natural and anthropogenic hazards. Research gaps and recommendations for developing more compre-</p> <p>hensive risk management strategies are presented.</p