Paper details

Paper authors	Viola Csordas
In panel on	Disaster Risk Reduction in Fragile, Conflict-Affected, and Vulnerable (FCV) Contexts: Strategies for Protracted Crises
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person & Online

Abstract

Disaster risk reduction in FCV settings is rarely a neutral or purely technical process. It is shaped by the political and institutional dynamics of contested authority, particularly where security actors, both state and hybrid, play prominent roles. Drawing on a multi-country stocktaking of climate and environmental security in 5 countries (Iraq, oPT, Sierra Leone, Philippines, Brazil), this paper explores how security institutions influence DRR implementation, legitimacy, and outcomes in fragile environments. It examines the ways in which DRR frameworks intersect with security mandates, from civil protection and border management to counterterrorism and emergency response, often reinforcing militarized and responsive approaches to risk governance. At the same time, the paper highlights opportunities for DRR functions to contribute to peacebuilding, strengthen social cohesion and state legitimacy, if including community perspectives and prioritizing service delivery. Based on operational experiences, the paper offers a grounded analysis of how DRR can be embedded within broader security governance reforms in FCV settings. It argues for conflict-sensitive, accountable, and politically informed approaches that recognize the dual nature of security institutions as both risk managers and political actors, and the need to rebalance disaster governance toward prevention, inclusion, and long-term resilience.

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