Le prospettive geografiche della riduzione del rischio disastri: comunità, governance, sostenibilità ambientale e risorse economiche (original) (raw)

Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) requires community empowerment and participation, through coordination mechanisms in all sectors and at all social and institutional levels. However, DRR strategies usually focus on a few or single elements, due to a series of barriers, mostly institutional, but also cognitive, economic, and social, which lead to the lack of a decisive overall vision for risk management. This monographic work presents a DRR analysis methodology called “CO.G.EN.S.” and tested through the European Life Project “PRIMES”. This system of indicators assesses the achievement of flood risk reduction objectives in four thematic areas that share a geographical perspective: community engagement (CO), governance capacity and institutional compliance (G), environmental sustainability (EN) and economic resources (S). The analysis showed that the involvement of the local population and the cooperation between the institutions have improved thanks to the Project, thus increasing flood risk awareness and social cohesion. However, the Project activities did not have direct effects on the environmental and socio-economic areas. To improve flood risk reduction efforts, it is suggested to enhance the involvement of all community actors, with a role of coordination and homogenization of warning procedures by institutions, the integration of climatological data by scientists and technicians, and the education of citizens regarding flood risk and adaptation to climate change. The CO.G.EN.S. indicator system has proven to be effective and comprehensive, with an objective, transversal and multidisciplinary assessment of risk reduction. The methodology is also modular and easily replicable in other contexts, potentially suitable for comparing DRR strategies applied to different types of risk and at different territorial scales.