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Enhancing Forest Fires Preparedness in Portugal: Integrating Community Engagement and Risk Management
Citation
Paton, D and Tedim, F, Enhancing Forest Fires Preparedness in Portugal: Integrating Community Engagement and Risk Management, Planet@Risk, 1, (1) pp. 44 - 51. ISSN 2296-8172 (2014) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2013 GRF Davos
Official URL: http://planet-risk.org/index.php/pr/article/view/2...
Abstract
e growing incidence, intensity, severity, and size of forest fires and escalating economic
constraints have made reliance on fire suppression activities as the main fire management
strategies, in Portugal, less tenable. Recognition of this led fire and municipal civil protection
agencies to include community preparedness in comprehensive risk management planning. Because
this is a new element of risk management in Portugal, agencies need information on cost
effective approaches to facilitate community preparedness. Using data from a study of forest fire
preparedness in Portugal, this article discusses the development and testing of a model of forest fire
preparedness. Data from 197 residents from several communities in northern Portugal were used
to test the model. Analysis confirmed that people’s beliefs about the effectiveness of preparing
(outcome effectiveness) interacted with social processes and competencies (community participation,
collective efficacy) to explain differences in levels of forest fire preparedness. Because the
social processes and competencies identified derived from people’s life and community experiences,
the findings highlight the importance of integrating risk communication with community
engagement and development strategies if the goal of increasing preparedness is to be effectively
pursued. Activities fire and municipal agencies can use to facilitate preparedness are discussed, as
is the potential for using the model in Europe and Australia.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | Bushfire, preparedness, community engagement, risk management |
| Research Division: | Psychology and Cognitive Sciences |
| Research Group: | Psychology |
| Research Field: | Social and Community Psychology |
| Objective Division: | Cultural Understanding |
| Objective Group: | Communication |
| Objective Field: | Communication Across Languages and Culture |
| UTAS Author: | Paton, D (Professor Douglas Paton) |
| ID Code: | 89158 |
| Year Published: | 2014 (online first 2013) |
| Deposited By: | Psychology |
| Deposited On: | 2014-02-26 |
| Last Modified: | 2014-07-24 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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