Suchergebnisse

There is an increasing recognition of the social, cultural, political and economic significance of Indigenous peoples' ethos of caring for country and its potential importance for public policy domains such as disasterrisk management. Indigenous peoples' ecological understandings are increasingly recognised within Australian federal and state policy frameworks, however, very little has been published about the kinds ofengagement that have taken place, how they are implemented and whether they work. To better understand the extant evidentiary base, this paper documents the findings of a rapid evidence review of AustralianIndigenous peoples' knowledges and disaster risk management. Although there is very little published in disaster studies on the topic, there is a substantive body of evidence in natural resource management thatprovides significant lessons for Australian emergency managers. This literature highlights the importance ofbroadening non-Indigenous framings of natural disasters as discrete events managed separately frombroader ecological, social, political and economic issues. The evidence base demonstrates the strength of Indigenous peoples' fine-grained and place-based worldviews that integrate natural resource managementwith strategies to sustain political economies of living off country and the mitigation of extreme events such as disasters. This approach requires a broader purview than currently taken by disaster risk management in Australia and necessitates a robust understanding of Indigenous worldviews if emergency managers want to effectively engage with Indigenous communities.

In recent decades the rate and extent of urbanisation has increased markedly and the majority of the world's people now live in urban areas. These trends are clearly apparent in low and middle income countries, particularly those in South and East Asia (World Bank recent list of LMIC by region). Much of this urban growth is relatively unplanned and has increased the vulnerability of the urban population to the increasing risk of natural disasters and extreme weather events. In addition, vulnerability is further aggravated by other risk factors such as widespread poverty and illiteracy, population migration, increased population density, poor access to services, inadequate nutrition, and poor water and sanitation.Major gaps exist in information on the interface between urbanisation and natural disasters, especially if the added dimensions of risk, vulnerability and resilience are considered. The concept that the impact of disasters is an outcome of ongoing risk processes interacting with hazards, exposure and vulnerabilities is comparatively recent. It is suggested that there are valuable lessons to be learnt from local level initiatives, people's participation or adaptation of suitable and applicable legislation in the face of such hazards and disasters happening in these cities, countries and regions.