Understanding Institutional Deadlocks in Disaster Risk Reduction: The Financial and Legal Risk Root Causes in Genova, Italy

Abstract

Many countries, regions and towns around the world experience lack of action or delayed actions in the implementation of disaster risk reduction measures. One of the common causal explanations is the insufficient funding available to reduce risk, especially at the local level. However, so far few studies have provided an in-depth analysis of the root causes of these deadlocks in disaster risk reduction. This paper analyses risk root causes in Genova, a town situated in North West Italy and exposed to high impact weather events. The town has experienced an increase in the intensity of flood events in the past 50 years, causing casualties, evacuations, displacements and severe damage. Decisions about flood risk mitigation progressively became a highly contested issue, especially because of the delays in reinforcing the banks of the Bisagno river and the city’s flood defences. The causes of these delays are not to be found in the lack of technical solutions, but rather in the socio-political and institutional dynamics. The Risk Root Cause Analysis (RRCA) framework provided the theoretical and methodological background to identify the key root causes of the risk reduction deadlock: corruption accusations and legal conflicts, unfair criteria for funding allocation at the regional level, lack of coordination among funding agencies, side effects of austerity measures, mismatches between the political and disaster risk cycles. The results show that the strengthening of a certain system — e.g., anti-corruption measures to avoid bribery in public spending — may cause the weakening of another one — e.g., delays in protection works execution — and generate increased risk exposure and vulnerability. Another similar example regards the implementation of national austerity policies, which caused human resources’ constraints at the local level and shifts of public funding from the disaster risk reduction to other sectors such as health. Anticipation of these and other unintended side effects discussed in the paper as well as a better understanding of the root causes of the deadlocks in risk reduction, can contribute to the improvement of disaster management strategies.