Work

Nature–society relations in disaster governance frameworks

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This paper studies how the relations between nature and society are constructed in disaster governance frameworks. Dominant disaster governance frameworks present nature and society as separate realms, and the organisation of society is increasingly seen as the key cause of hazards and disasters. Disaster impacts are similarly framed around adverse societal consequences, while other-than-human nature is merely the background across which disasters unfold, as property lost, or a means of disaster governance. Although the centrality of human impacts is troubled when biodiversity or a disaster flagship species is threatened, neither situation challenges the nature-society dualism embedded in dominant disaster governance frameworks. The attention and resources of disaster governance target the societal side of nature-society dualism. This study finds, though, that in peripheries characterised by remoteness from centres of power, a sparse human population, and large spaces of other-than-human nature, the vulnerabilities facing humans and other-than-human nature risk being ungoverned.

Source: Disasters

DOI: 10.1111/disa.12678

Author: Eija Meriläinen

Institutions: Örebro University, University College London, Hanken School of Economics

Language: English

Topic: Disaster Management and Resilience

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Life on land, Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,730