Bushfires and Australian Emergency Management Law and Policy: Adapting To Climate Change and the New Fire and Emergency Management Environment
Special Issue Cassandra’s Curse: The Law and Foreseeable Future Disasters
ISBN: 978-1-78560-299-3, eISBN: 978-1-78560-298-6
Publication date: 17 October 2015
Abstract
Modern emergency management policy is built around the concepts of shared responsibility and the development of resilient communities. Drawing on the Australian context, this chapter argues that giving effect to these policy directions will require negotiation between stakeholders and an inevitable trade in values, interests, and resources. The chapter identifies an apparent contradiction at the heart of modern disaster management: that improvements in establishing professional emergency and risk management services may have reduced the capacity of individuals and local communities to take responsibility for disaster preparation and response.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
This chapter was developed from a paper delivered at a workshop on Legal and Institutional Dimensions of Adaptation and Extreme Event Management funded by the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) and held at the Australian National University on November 23, 2011. This chapter draws on data from a survey of chief officers of Australia’s fire and emergency services. Findings from that survey have also been reported in Eburn and Dovers (2014, 2015).
Citation
Eburn, M. (2015), "Bushfires and Australian Emergency Management Law and Policy: Adapting To Climate Change and the New Fire and Emergency Management Environment", Special Issue Cassandra’s Curse: The Law and Foreseeable Future Disasters (Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, Vol. 68), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 155-188. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1059-433720150000068007
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015 Emerald Group Publishing Limited