The essay topic for my final paper will integrate the importance of strong planning and community action during times of crisis in Canada due to natural disasters. My final paper will focus on community resiliency surrounding natural disaster preparedness and relief. I will highlight the role of social mobilization for environmental protection and stewardship. McLeod et al. (2024) define environmental stewardship as “the universal responsibility of humanity to care for the planet, to ensure that it can continue to provide the essential natural resources for life.” Significant problems affecting the natural environment include resource mismanagement, environmental degradation, urbanization, and climate change. This paper will concentrate on the adverse consequences following an incidence of a natural hazard (i.e., environmental phenomena) that causes significant harm to a community. Stated another way, this paper will elucidate the impact of natural disasters on communities as opposed to strictly human-made disasters. Interestingly, psychological distance, meaning the separation between one’s self-perception and actual events, can significantly influence an individual’s preparedness to adjust to the impacts of climate change (Rana et al., 2023). Expected climate change involves more than just shifts in global average temperatures; it also involves increased frequency and severity of extreme weather and climate events (Scott & Lennon, 2020). These include intense flooding, heavy precipitation, storms, droughts, wildfires, heatwaves, and cold spells, along with the heightened risks associated with rising sea levels (Scott & Lennon, 2020). Furthermore, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (2023) lists 18 natural hazards in the national risk index, such as avalanche, earthquake, landslide, hurricane, and coastal flooding.
In my final paper, I will compare and contrast philosophies related to retreating (i.e., relocating the population living in risk-prone areas) versus protecting (i.e., fortifying communities). There is almost universal agreement across academia that an inevitable consequence of climate change is some degree of displacement (Tubridy et al., 2020). Therefore, retreat, which is also referred to as planned relocation or preventative resettlement, is becoming an important adaptation strategy (Tubridy et al., 2020). A community’s physical characteristics can increase its susceptibility to a natural disaster. In some cases, environmental vulnerability requires a retreat approach, whereas other scenarios favour staying in place and taking pre-emptive measures to reduce the impact of natural disasters (Ayala-Garcia & Dall’Erba, 2021). The tasks involved in planning for natural disasters include risk assessment, evacuation, situation awareness, public communication, logistics, supply, inter-organizational relations, and self-help (Bodin et al., 2022). Emergency response efforts following a natural disaster can be significantly hindered by shortages in the workforce, delays in the arrival of supplies and materials, funding deficits, and inadequate hospital capacity (Shein, 2021). Shein (2021) makes recommendations for planning for a natural disaster emergency response in the context of a concurrent global pandemic, such as COVID-19. I will examine these suggestions and explain the benefits of planning for simultaneous events.
I will explain the importance of collaborative relationships and interdependent tasks since Bodin et al. (2022) argue that a network-centric method to natural disaster response increases effectiveness. At the individual level, I will examine the influence of income level on citizen preparedness for response to natural disasters. Cvetkovic (2016) emphasizes the necessity of improved information regarding evacuation routes and nearby shelters for low-income citizens. In the event of a natural disaster, such as a flood, low-income citizens were less prepared to respond and lacked necessary supplies such as food for two days, flashlight, hack, apparatus for firefighting, and first aid kit (Cvetkovic, 2016). Empowering community members to enhance their well-being and participate in conservation efforts requires community engagement. Quality of life planning should include rapid assessment, reflection, and consensus-building based on community assets (Campbell et al., 2023). This planning should utilize a rights-based framework that amplifies the voices and needs of local community members, especially those connected to the landscapes being considered for new protections (Campbell et al., 2023). Successful implementation of quality of life planning involves active participation from community members and external partners to develop a compelling vision (Campbell et al., 2023). An important aspect of this planning is mapping community assets to identify individual and collective strengths within communities (Campbell et al., 2023). In a sense, this provides a diagnostic overview of current conditions and trends in community well-being and highlights community capacities (Campbell et al., 2023). This information supports effective decision-making for practical actions to sustain or enhance the community members’ well-being (Campbell et al., 2023).
Community-based monitoring is a scientific data collection method that deploys local community members to actively engage in ecosystem research (Al Mamun & Natcher, 2023). It is a form of “citizen science” that uses traditional ecological knowledge and insights into local land and resource management practices in the environmental monitoring process (Al Mamun & Natcher, 2023). I will describe challenges and opportunities discovered across community-based monitoring projects in Canada and internationally. Community-based conservation projects are more likely to succeed when they operate within a national context that encourages local governance, promotes economic diversification, and invests in capacity-building efforts (Fariss et al., 2021). Over time, the interest in community-based conservation projects has increased due to its potential to enhance both conservation objectives and empowerment of Indigenous Peoples and local communities (Fariss et al., 2021).
This paper will explore how to build sustainable futures as increased frequency and severity of natural disasters linked to climate change increasingly threatens our communities. I feel it is of utmost importance to safeguard our well-being in the face of unprecedented challenges posed by natural disasters and the broader climate crisis. Adapting to these changing times and protecting our communities from the wrath of wildfires, floods, and other extreme weather events must be prioritized since inaction is fiscally and morally irresponsible.
References
Al Mamun, A. & Natcher, D.C. (2023). The promise and pitfalls of community-based monitoring with a focus on Canadian examples. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 445, 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10841-y
Ayala-Garcia, J. & Dall’Erba, S. (2021). The impact of pre-emptive investment on natural disasters. Papers in Regional Science, 101, 1087-1103. https://doi.org/10.1111/pirs.12700
Bodin, O., Guerrero, A.M., Nohrstedt, D., Baird, J., Summers, R., Plummer, R. & Jasny, L. (2022). Choose your collaborators wisely: Addressing interdependent tasks through collaboration in responding to wildfire disasters. Public Admin Rev, 82, 1154-1167. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13518
Campbell, J., Jarrett, C., Wali, A., Rosenthal, A., Alvira, D., Lemos, A., Longoni, M., Winter, A. & Lopez, L. (2023). Centering communities in conservation through asset- based quality of life planning. Conservation and Society, 21(1), 48-60.
Cvetkovic, V.M. (2016). Influence of income level on citizen preparedness for response to natural disasters. Vojno delo, 68(4), 100-127. https://doi.org/10.5937/vojdelo1604100C
Fariss, B., DeMello, N., Powlen, K.A., Latimer, C.E., Masuda, Y. & Kennedy, C.M. (2021). Catalyzing success in community-based conservation. Conservation Biology, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.1973
Federal Emergency Management Agency (2023). Natural Hazards. FEMA: National Risk Index. Retrieved from https://hazards.fema.gov/nri/natural-hazards
McLeod, L.J., Kitson, J.C., Dorner, Z., Tassell-Matamua, N., Stahlmann-Brown, P., Milfont, T.L. & Hine, D.W. (2024). Environmental stewardship: A systematic scoping review, PLOS ONE, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.poine.0284255
Rana, I.A., Arshad, H.S.H., Jamshed, A., Khalid, Z., Younas, Z.I. & Bhatti, S.S. (2023). The impact of psychological distance to climate change and urban informality on adaptation planning. Urban Climate, 49, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2023.101460
Shein, M. (2021). Emergency preparedness and natural disaster planning. Security, 58(1), 16-20. https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/94262-emergency-preparedness-and- natural-disaster-planning
Tubridy, D., Lennon, M. & Scott, M. (2020). Resist or Retreat? Planning for Place disruption, displacement and vulnerabilities in the face of climate change. Planning theory and practice, 21(1), 129-136. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649357.2020.1704130
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