Balancing between disaster risk reduction, development and adaptation

The new article “The evolving local social contract for managing climate and disaster risk in Vietnam” in the journal Disasters examines how local government authorities in Central Vietnam perceive their role in disaster risk reduction. The article finds that extreme climate events, such as floods and storms, can act as critical junctures and contribute to institutional change. This has been the case in Vietnam, where damaging floods and storms have led to improved practices of disaster risk reduction and response among local officials. Officials take pride in their greater roles in managing disaster risk, emphasizing increased planning practices and infrastructural investments. The provision of disaster risk reduction and response supports local government legitimacy.

However, local officials’ role in disaster management and response has become increasingly complex. It is complicated by uncertainties around climate change and authorities’ role in adaptation. It overlaps and sometimes clashes with their continued adherence to high-risk development trajectories. Other factors, such as the shifting roles of state, private sector and civil society actors, also create confusion or undermine clearly-defined roles and responsibilities in managing disaster risk and response. Local governments’ past basis for legitimacy regarding disasters is no longer valid. However, their future social contract is not yet defined.