Advancing the integration of citizens' and stakeholders’ knowledge in disaster risk management and reduction

Convener: Alexandre Pereira SantosECSECS | Co-conveners: Silvia De Angeli, Janne ParviainenECSECS, Antonella Peresan

The imperative for disaster risk reduction is increasingly clear, especially due to the increase in frequency and intensity of hazards due to climate change. The so-called “implementation gap”, however, reveals a lack of effective measures and on the scale needed. It also demonstrates that a large proportion of human populations are still ill-advised, assisted, or lack inclusion in the decision-making processes pertaining to their adaptation and risk mitigation. The problem thus is that risk mitigation and management need to be more frequent, more intense, and adequately distributed across the different population groups.
Conversely, recent research demonstrates that most of the effective and transformative adaptation and risk mitigation happens at the local level, often through grassroots citizen-led movements. Such movements frequently stem from a deep connection with place and are motivated by the need to sustain livelihoods, preserve settlement conditions, or protect the environment. Community-led initiatives share important affinities with participatory and stakeholder-based approaches in disaster risk reduction and could contribute to addressing implementation gaps through more robust engagement with scientific assessments and evidence-based frameworks.
In this context, and following successful editions at previous EGU meetings, this session seeks to fill in the gap on accounting, analysing, and empowering citizen and stakeholder-centred risk management and disaster risk reduction approaches. We invite scholars from a wide range of disciplines to contribute their work on:
- Transdisciplinary approaches and integrative methods in disaster risk management, vulnerability, risk analysis, and disaster risk reduction that combine knowledge from both academic and non-academic stakeholders.
- Innovative methods and data sources that leverage citizen and stakeholder knowledge into risk frameworks, including mixed methods research with high transferability potential into other applications (e.g., integration with remote sensing and climate models).
- The interaction between societal dynamics and natural hazards, including the influence of urban development on the occurrence and impact of single and multiple natural hazards.
- Case studies and lessons learned that demonstrate the active involvement of citizens and other stakeholders in the design or implementation of risk assessment frameworks, risk mitigation strategies, and governance actions.