Addressing justice in wildfire risk management

Date:
July 10, 2023
Source:
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Summary:
The unequal distribution of wildfire risk in our society is
influenced by various factors, such as social vulnerabilities and
intersecting forms of inequality, including gender, age, ethnicity,
or disability. A new article calls for more integrated and inclusive
wildfire risk management approaches and proposes a novel framework
mapping different justice aspects.


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FULL STORY ==========================================================================
The frequency and severity of wildfires have become increasingly
alarming in recent years, substantially due to the effects of climate
change. Rising global temperatures, altered weather patterns, and
prolonged droughts are all consequences of climate change that contribute
to the heightened risk of wildfires.

The 2019-2020 Australian wildfires demonstrated that compound climatic
events - - long-lasting record high temperatures combined with record low precipitation -- can lead to unprecedented large-scale impacts. These
fires affected 80% of the people living in Australia in some way. As
a result, there were disagreements about who should have access to reconstruction funding, and who should move to safer areas. In fact, these disagreements reflect different perceptions by different stakeholders
of what is just in terms of outcomes and processes.

While there is some literature focusing on justice aspects in relation to management of other hazards, such as floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes, existing literature on wildfire risk management has paid little attention
to individual justice issues so far. In a new article, published in
Nature Climate Change, IIASA researchers, together with colleagues from
the Fraunhofer Institute for Technological Trend Analysis (INT) and the
Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC), argue that three domains of justice need to be considered for the transition to integrated
and inclusive wildfire risk management approaches: distributional justice, procedural justice, and restorative justice.

"The distributional justice aspect focuses on who should bear the costs
and benefits of wildfire risk management. Procedural justice looks
at policy selection and which stakeholders are heard when developing
wildfire risk management measures. Restorative justice addresses
restoration and compensation mechanisms, including insurance," explains
lead author Thomas Schinko, a senior IIASA researcher who also leads
the Equity and Justice Research Group in the IIASA Population and Just Societies Program. "These three dimensions of justice are considered
key in the fields of environmental, climate, and disaster justice."
The framework's objective is to provide a comprehensive categorization of
the three dimensions of justice against the four phases of the wildfire
risk management cycle: 1. Prevention, 2. Preparedness, 3. Response,
and 4. Recovery and Adaptation.

"The framework shows that distributional, procedural, and restorative
justice challenges arise along all four wildfire risk management phases,
and across social, economic, cultural, and ecological dimensions that
impact the risk management process," notes Schinko.

"They are linked to trade-offs arising from actions and inactions
influencing hazards, exposures and vulnerabilities, and may lead to
conflicts among stakeholders," adds coauthor Claudia Berchtold, a senior researcher at Fraunhofer INT.

Eduard Plana, a coauthor and Department Head at the Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC), stresses that "operationalizing integrated and just approaches to wildfire risk management is urgently
needed as societies deal with a fundamentally changing wildfire risk
context, while at the same time scaling up their climate change mitigation ambitions." Schinko and his colleagues argue that more inclusive and integrative wildfire risk management strategies should also be connected
to the Just Transition discourse. In recent years, the concept has gained traction with reference to meeting climate goals by ensuring that everyone
-- all communities, workers, and social groups -- are brought along in
the pivot to a net-zero future, leaving no one behind.

"This framework helps us to identify justice aspects across all four
wildfire risk management phases. It sets out the conceptual basis for
further in-depth analyses, such as focusing on how wildfires affect
indigenous communities.

Additionally, it provides a foundation for risk management and governance practices to include important distributional, procedural, and restorative justice considerations. This is particularly relevant when working towards
a Just Transition to more holistic wildfire risk management strategies
and approaches," concludes Schinko.

* RELATED_TOPICS
o Plants_&_Animals
# Endangered_Plants # Nature # Extinction
o Earth_&_Climate
# Wildfires # Natural_Disasters # Environmental_Issues
o Science_&_Society
# Justice # Land_Management # Environmental_Policies
* RELATED_TERMS
o Social_inequality o Justice o Social_inclusion o
Social_science o Urban_planning o Cultural_evolution o
Adventure_travel o Society

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Story Source: Materials provided by International_Institute_for_Applied_Systems_Analysis.

Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. T. Schinko, C. Berchtold, J. Handmer, T. Deubelli-Hwang,
E. Preinfalk, J.

Linnerooth-Bayer, A. Scolobig, M. Serra, E. Plana. A framework for
considering justice aspects in integrated wildfire risk management.

Nature Climate Change, 2023; DOI: 10.1038/s41558-023-01726-0 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230710133059.htm

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