Importance of creating a pathway for Voices to merge with Scientific Knowledge in Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction
Abstract as pdf
Corresponding Author:
Damithri Chathumani
PhD student New Zealand
damithrichathumani@gmail.com
Author(s):
Loïc Le Dé1 , Michael G. Petterson2 and Deepthi D. Wickramasinghe3
1Senior Lecturer , Loic.Le.De@Aut.Ac.Nz, NZL
2Senior Lecturer , Michael.Petterson@Aut.Ac.Nz, NZL
3Senior Lecturer , Deepthi@Zoology.Cmb.Ac.Lk, LKA
Ecosystems are increasingly recognized as having the potential to play a key role in Disaster Risk reduction (DRR). Healthy ecosystems offer trustworthy and effective ways of reducing disaster risks, whilst, at the same time providing other ecosystem services, and having the potential to self-repair. Ecosystem based measures for DRR include the protection, conservation, restoration and management of ecosystems. The use of ecosystem based-DRR approaches vary, based on hazard. Not only most of the Ecosystem- based approaches are based on the hazard paradigm of disasters but also have been placed on understanding ecosystem-based DRR from the viewpoint of physical science. Very limited research has explored the role local people may play in ecosystem based DRR, such as their knowledge and viewpoints about ecosystems and their management in relation to DRR. Therefore, DRR mechanisms based on ecosystems and local community’s participation has been rarely accepted, addressed, included and implemented in the country Besides, there is limited understanding on how local and scientific knowledge about ecosystems can be combined towards DRR. This is surprising since the disaster literature refers largely to an integration of social and physical scientific approaches to help build accountable trust relationships and power sharing in the decision making related to DRR. Hence it is timely and essential to explore how local community’s knowledge, and ‘more external’ scientific knowledge, could be combined to contribute towards effective and sustainable management of eco system based-DRR to establish sustainable and promising ecosystem based DRR approaches.
Keywords: Ecosystem based disaster risk reduction, Local knowledge, Community participation, Scientific knowledge,
Emerging voices and pathways to inclusive disaster studies