Disaster Risk Reduction in Bushfire Prone Areas: Challenges for an Integrated Land Use Planning Policy Regime

Simone Ruane,Mohammad Shahidul Hasan Swapan,Courtney Babb

doi:10.3390/su122410496

Abstract

The need for an integrated approach to disaster risk reduction (DRR) is widely promoted across the contemporary disaster literature and policy discourse. In Australia, the importance of integrating bushfire management and land use planning systems is a growing priority as bushfire risk in urbanized areas increases. This paper examines the changing policy landscape towards an integrated DRR regime for land use planning and bushfire management in south-west Western Australia. The research is based on a qualitative analysis of policy documents and in-depth interviews with policy actors associated with this regime. The results identify several challenges of policy integration for an integrated land use planning and bushfire management DRR regime, including incompatible worldviews, sectorial objectives and knowledge sets. A lack of cross-sectoral understanding, different risk tolerances and instrument preferences also constrained integration efforts. Based on our findings, we argue that rule-based mechanisms, which establish a legal framework for integration, are necessary when different policy goals and worldviews prevail between policy sectors. However, we conclude by emphasizing the value of actor-based mechanisms for integrated DRR policy regimes, which enable ongoing cross-sectoral communication and policy learning and facilitate a systems-oriented perspective of disaster resilience in the built environment.

Highlights

Bushfires are an intrinsic feature of the Australian landscape; as a result of changing climatic conditions, the southern regions are experiencing an increased incidence of extreme bushfire events [1]
While the recent policy reforms discussed in this paper apply to the whole state of Western Australia, the focus area of this study is south-west WA (The south-west of Western Australia defined refers to a geographical area broadly correlating with the South West Land Division, the South West Agricultural Region and the South West Australian Floristic Zone.) (Figure 1)
This section sets the context for an integrated policy regime for land use planning and bushfire management in Western Australia

Summary

Introduction

Bushfires ( known as wildfires) are an intrinsic feature of the Australian landscape; as a result of changing climatic conditions, the southern regions are experiencing an increased incidence of extreme bushfire events [1]. The recent catastrophic bushfires, referred to as the “Black Summer” of 2019–2020, burned over 10 million hectares, mostly around the south-east of Australia, resulting in 33 deaths and the loss of more than 3000 homes [2] These devastating impacts highlight the vulnerability of wildland urban areas (WUI), where human settlements are interspersed within or adjacent to bushland. Urban development can increase bushfire risk, by changing the rates of ignition, modifying vegetation types, fragmenting landscapes and by introducing new forms of fuel [3,4]. These interacting variables raise many complex public policy questions regarding how to reduce the disaster risk of bushfire in the built environment

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion