Management Action Plan Research Articles

Habitat invasion risk assessment based on Landsat 5 data, exemplified by the shrub Rosa rubiginosa in southern Argentina

Prediction of invasive species spread helps to plan management actions. We performed a risk assessment by quantifying habitat invasibility, predicted the potential distribution of an invasive species using the Maxent modelling program and confirmed patterns using detailed field studies. Our study was conducted in southern Argentina, Patagonia, where large areas are already invaded by the European shrub Rosa rubiginosa. A total of 163 R. rubiginosa locations served as ground truth data, and predictors were obtained from the spaceborne sensor Landsat 5. Based on the Maxent Method (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.8), the habitat invasibility map covered about 5000 km2. Our model revealed that R. rubiginosa has the potential to invade 36% of the area along a steep precipitation gradient (target region 600–1400 mm per year). The Tasseled Cap brightness index and the normalized vegetation index explained most of the variance in our model, followed by the Tasseled Cap greenness and wetness indices, which can be interpreted as indicators of disturbance. Highest levels of invasibility were predicted for urban areas, along roads and rivers, on pastures, in Austrocedrus chilensis forests and inside Nothofagus dombeyi forest gaps. Detailed field assessments of rose cover performed in seven habitat types supported these results: rose cover significantly decreased with increasing tree cover (P < 0.01). Our data revealed that the occurrence of R. rubiginosa is not connected to a certain habitat type, but that it thrives in open patches following habitat disturbance. Our approach is a widely applicable, cost-free remote sensing method that can serve as a risk assessment tool for alien plant species invasion of habitats.

Developing post-fire Eucalyptus globulus stand damage and tree mortality models for enhanced forest planning in Portugal

Forest and fire management planning activities are carried out mostly independently of each other. This paper discusses research aiming at the development of methods and tools that can be used for enhanced integration of forest and fire management planning activities. Specifically, fire damage models were developed for Eucalyptus globulus Labill stands in Portugal. Models are based on easily measurable forest characteristics so that forest managers may predict post-fire mortality based on forest structure. For this purpose, biometric data and fire-damage descriptors from 2005/2006 National Forest Inventory plots and other sample plots within 2006, 2007 and 2008 fire areas were used. A three-step modelling strategy based on logistic regression methods was used. In the first step, a model was developed to predict whether mortality occurs after a wildfire in a eucalypt stand. In the second step the degree of damage caused by wildfires in stands where mortality occurs is quantified (i.e. percentage of mortality). In the third step this mortality is distributed among trees. Data from over 85 plots and 1648 trees were used for modeling purposes. The damage models show that relative damage increases with stand basal area. Tree level mortality models indicate that trees with high diameters, in dominant positions and located in regular stands are less prone to die when a wildfire occurs.

How are guidelines on allergic respiratory diseases implemented in primary care in Canada?

Asthma is still not optimally controlled in Canada, as in other countries [1,2]. As an effort to determine what could be optimal care of this chronic condition, Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) have been produced and revised regularly in the last two decades, although recent reports suggest that they are not still sufficiently implemented, particularly into primary care [1-4]. Cabana et al. had reported, following a systematic literature review of studies on barriers to adherence to CPGs, that more than half of physicians were not aware of the exact content of current guidelines; common barriers to guidelines implementation included a lack of agreement and/or motivation to change, a lack of self-efficacy, inertia of previous practice, and external factors, such as lack of time and insufficient resources [4]. In regard to asthma, we previously reported data from questionnaires completed by 2,605 Canadian practitioners [5]; we observed that Canadian Asthma Consensus Guidelines (CACG) were considered well known only by a minority of Primary care Physicians (PCP) and that significant discrepancies existed between this Guideline’s recommendations and current care, such as a low use of objective measures of airflow limitation to assist with diagnosis, difficulties with proper assessment of medication needs, a low provision of written action plans for patients and an infrequent referral to other health professionals for asthma education. In keeping with this initial study, following a recent Canadian survey, we proposed that an insufficient use of objective measures for the diagnosis of asthma explained the over-diagnosis of asthma observed [6]. More recently, using a sample of patients treated in primary care in Canada, we confirmed that many patients still do not enjoy adequate guideline-defined asthma control, particularly women, current smokers, older patients and those who lack a written action plan for exacerbation management [1]. However, primary care physicians recognized a lack of control among most asthma patients and were likely to recommend appropriate medication changes and aftercare to patients who fail to achieve guideline targets for asthma control. This, therefore, suggests that although there have been improvements in guideline implementation, some care gaps still persist. In order to better understand how Canadian guidelines are implemented and to develop targeted strategies to improve their translation into current care, we developed a new tool, the Physicians’ Practice Assessment Questionnaire (PPAQ) [7]. As an initial assessment of this tool, implementation of fourteen key-recommendations on asthma management from the most recent CACG was evaluated in a group of 47 general practitioners7. Validation of the questionnaire showed good internal consistency and good test-retest, and revealed that the lowest self-reported rates of implementation were for: 1) referral for patient education; 2) provision of a written action plan; 3) regular assessment of inhaler technique; and 4) referral to a specialist for difficult to control asthma or uncertain diagnosis. This suggests that in order to improve asthma control, these specific behaviors should be addressed and translation of these recommendations facilitated. Finally, in regard to rhinitis, under-diagnosis and under-treatment of rhinitis seems common and although international guidelines are available, we need to better understand how physicians integrate their recommendations into care [8]. Barriers and facilitators of guidelines’ translation into current care should be further addressed.

The Role of Geohydrology in the Determination of a Spatial Development Framework in the Vredefort Dome World Heritage Site

Surface water resources (the Vaal River and its tributaries) in the Vredefort Dome World Heritage Site (VDWHS), South Africa, have been over extended and future development will rely solely on groundwater. Hence, being at a critical point in the water balance, groundwater resources in the VDWHS require careful management and protection to ensure sustainability and equitable access. An assessment of the geohydrological character of the VDWHS was therefore done in order to develop a groundwater resource management plan. Five groundwater resource management units were delineated and resource measures for each management unit were developed based on physical and anthropogenic attributes. Due to the importance of groundwater in the VDWHS, it was determined that geohydrology should play a major role in the alignment of the environmental, spatial and statutory development frameworks, in order to ensure good governance. A geohydrological-based land use management guideline and spatial development framework was developed to optimize the integration between the water sector, the environmental sector and land use and spatial planning sector. It was concluded that a geohydrological assessment needs to form the basis of all future land use management and spatial planning activities in the VDWHS.

A stochastic Forest Fire Model for future land cover scenarios assessment

Abstract. Land cover is affected by many factors including economic development, climate and natural disturbances such as wildfires. The ability to evaluate how fire regimes may alter future vegetation, and how future vegetation may alter fire regimes, would assist forest managers in planning management actions to be carried out in the face of anticipated socio-economic and climatic change. In this paper, we present a method for calibrating a cellular automata wildfire regime simulation model with actual data on land cover and wildfire size-frequency. The method is based on the observation that many forest fire regimes, in different forest types and regions, exhibit power law frequency-area distributions. The standard Drossel-Schwabl cellular automata Forest Fire Model (DS-FFM) produces simulations which reproduce this observed pattern. However, the standard model is simplistic in that it considers land cover to be binary – each cell either contains a tree or it is empty – and the model overestimates the frequency of large fires relative to actual landscapes. Our new model, the Modified Forest Fire Model (MFFM), addresses this limitation by incorporating information on actual land use and differentiating among various types of flammable vegetation. The MFFM simulation model was tested on forest types with Mediterranean and sub-tropical fire regimes. The results showed that the MFFM was able to reproduce structural fire regime parameters for these two regions. Further, the model was used to forecast future land cover. Future research will extend this model to refine the forecasts of future land cover and fire regime scenarios under climate, land use and socio-economic change.

An adaptive network based fuzzy inference system–genetic algorithm clustering ensemble algorithm for performance assessment and improvement of conventional power plants

Performance measurement and assessment are fundamental to management planning and control activities of complex systems such as conventional power plants. They have received considerable attention by both management practitioners and theorists. There has been several efficiency frontier analysis methods reported in the literature. However, each of these methodologies has its strength and weakness. This study proposes a non-parametric efficiency frontier analysis methods based on adaptive network based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and genetic algorithm clustering ensemble (GACE) for performance assessment and improvement of conventional power plants. The proposed ANFIS-GA algorithm is capable to find a stochastic frontier based on a set of input–output observational data and do not require explicit assumptions about the functional structure of the stochastic frontier. Furthermore, it uses a similar approach to econometric methods for calculating the efficiency scores. Moreover, the effect of the return to scale of a power plant on its efficiency is included and the unit used for the correction is selected by notice of its scale. GACE is used to cluster power plants to increase homogeneousness. The proposed approach is applied to a set of actual conventional power plants to show its applicability and superiority. The superiority and advantages of the proposed algorithm are shown by comparing its results against ANN Fuzzy C-means Algorithm and conventional econometric method.

Regulation of waste and waste management in Turkey

Industrial and technological developments have increased rapidly throughout the world including Turkey. Furthermore, the population of Turkey is also increasing and the ever-increasing consumption creates larger amounts of waste materials and adversely affects the environment and human health. The development of a waste management and disposal system has become necessary in all countries of the world. As part of the process of seeking entry to the European Union, Turkey continues to prepare the necessary legislation to satisfy European Union regulations for the disposal of solid waste, packaging waste, biodegradable waste and medical waste materials within the framework of the strategy. An integrated waste management system is necessary for each town in Turkey that is suitable for the different contents and increasing amounts of waste produced. In the present study, Turkey's geographical regions were examined in terms of population and the total amount of solid waste generated in each province to produce detailed data for the Turkish Ministry of Environment and Forestry. As a result of this study, it is understood that Turkey has drawn up a 'road map' which will be followed by the 2008-2012 Waste Management Action Plan. To achieve this, the Ministry of the Environment and Forestry, Turkey and the municipalities must fulfill the tasks that have been allocated to them. Turkey will attain the European Union standards for waste management if these tasks lead to the achievement of the targets within the action plan.

Management of Fishing Capacity in the Nile Perch Fishery of Lake Victoria

The International Plan of Action for Management of Fishing Capacity encourages countries to develop regional and/or national plans of action for management of fishing capacity. The Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization (LVFO) working together with FAO have come up with the Regional Plan of Action for Managing fishing capacity (RPOA-Capacity) on Lake Victoria. This paper illustrates the problem of fishing capacity on Lake Victoria and the need for managing the fishing capacity. In managing capacity there is a need to understand the current fishing effort and fish stocks and their interactions. Optimal levels of effort in terms of fishing boats, fishing gear, manpower and time are all needed for effective setting of management measures. A bio-economic model is required to guide management decision on managing fishing capacity. There is an urgent need to collect more reliable disaggregated data on effort targeting different species for effective management of the lake fisheries. Key words : Lake Victoria, fishing capacity, legislation, stakeholder views, action plan.

A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY ON RISK, UNCERTAINTY, AND INFORMATION

In this paper, the author aims to examine the differences in perception concerning the anxiety toward the risk among three countries — Japan, the United States of America and China. The anxiety, in this case, is triggered by uncertainty. This paper also intends to clarify the effect of information to improve people's risk management targeted on the respondents of the Chinese population focusing on earthquake disasters. The social survey using questionnaire has been carried out in order to obtain the needed quantitative data for my research project. It is interesting to conclude that both respondents in China and in the United States tend to accept the impact of uncertainty better. They have shown somewhat lower level of anxiety toward nineteen items of the risks as compared with that of the Japanese respondents. The significant effects on information designed as a part of the risk management action plan as well as the living sufficiency safeguard are clearly observed.

Examining conifer canopy structural complexity across forest ages and elevations with LiDAR data

LiDAR measurements of canopy structure can be used to classify forest stands into structural stages to study spatial patterns of canopy structure, identify habitat, or plan management actions. A key assumption in this process is that differences in canopy structure based on forest age and elevation are consistent with predictions from models of stand development. Three LiDAR metrics (95th percentile height, rumple, and canopy density) were computed for 59 secondary and 35 primary forest plots in the Pacific Northwest, USA. Hierarchical clustering identified two precanopy closure classes, two low-complexity postcanopy closure classes, and four high-complexity postcanopy closure classes. Forest development models suggest that secondary plots should be characterized by low-complexity classes and primary plots characterized by high-complexity classes. While the most and least complex classes largely confirmed this relationship, intermediate-complexity classes were unexpectedly composed of both secondary and primary forest types. Complexity classes were not associated with elevation, except that primary Tsuga mertensiana (Bong.) Carrière (mountain hemlock) plots were complex. These results suggest that canopy structure does not develop in a linear fashion and emphasize the importance of measuring structural conditions rather than relying on development models to estimate structural complexity across forested landscapes.

Implementation of the Joint Management Action Plan on Bank-Fund Collaboration

In light of the multilateral effort to ensure the adequacy of the financial resources available to the International Monetary Fund (the “Fund”), and with a view to supporting the Fund’s ability to provide timely and effective balance of payments assistance to its members, the Swedish Riksbank (“Riksbank”) agrees to lend to the Fund an SDRdenominated amount up to the equivalent of EUR 2.47 billion, on the terms and conditions set out in this paper.

FISH SCHOOL IDENTIFICATION IN THE BALI STRAIT USING ACOUSTIC DESCRIPTOR AND ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS TECHNIQUES

Accurate fish school identification is one of the crucial pieces of information for fish stock assessment. The fish stock assessment, in turn, is used as a basis for fisheries management action plan. In this paper, we discuss the development and application of acoustic descriptor (AD) and artificial neural networks (ANN) technique for fish school identification. Data (echogram) was obtained from the acoustic survey conducted in November 2000 in the Bali Strait, using SIMRAD EK500 split-beam acoustic system. In this preliminary study, the usage of AD is confined to the geometrical properties (area, perimeter, height, length, elongation, circularity, rectangular, and fractal dimension) of the echogram or acoustic backscattering images, while the ANN used back-propagation technique and a sigmoid activation function to transform the input to output. The results show that the accuracy of identifying fish school for various ANN learning rate value is about 73.3%. We observed that the school of Lemuru Sardinella lemuru, which is dominant in the Strait of Bali during the time of the survey, takes elongated geometrical formation and occupied particular water depth. Future study will incorporate the more complete set of AD, for example by employing the energetic dimension, to improve the accuracy of the school identification. Keywords: school identification, acoustic descriptor, artificial neural networks

Lost in Translation: Limitations of a Universal Approach in Genetic Counseling

In countries with a well-developed genetic counseling profession, genetic counselors receive specialized graduate training that includes the study of genetic diseases and how those diseases run in families, and supervised genetic counseling practice. In addition they usually work as part of a health care team in conjunction with other trained specialists to help families make informed decisions about their genetic risk. They also work as patient advocates, helping individuals receive additional support and services for their health care needs. In contrast, in some developing countries physicians, human geneticists, and nurses who do not have specialized training in all of these domains, provide genetic counseling services. And in some cases, they have no academic training courses specific to genetic counseling. Genetic counseling is a complex activity requiring counselors to not only have extensive knowledge of human genetics and well-honed counseling skills, but also to be able to apply their knowledge and skills in ethically and culturally sensitive ways. For instance, genetic counselors should tailor their interventions to each client’s situation, discussing the client’s family history and test results in detail, explaining when and how genetic testing may not be appropriate for their situation, and informing them of other options to reduce their risk or lifestyle changes that may help their situation. Sometimes certain options clash with client’s cultural and/or religious beliefs (e.g., having ovaries removed in women at risk for ovarian cancer, or raising termination of a pregnancy as an option), and counselors should be able to anticipate these conflicts. Another facet of the complexity of genetic counseling is that it is a two-way process; the only way counseling can be effective is if clients engage in ways that allow genetic counselors to understand them, that is, disclosing all relevant information to the best of their knowledge, and being open to exploring options. In an ideal genetic counseling process, the client trusts the counselor (and other medical team members who often participate in designing an action plan for continued medical management), and thus feels comfortable providing information and participating in decision-making. To promote this ideal goal, genetic counselors should be familiar with their clients’ socioeconomic situations, cultures, religions, values, and so on. There is a substantial and growing body of genetic counseling literature. A majority of these books and scientific papers are authored by western scientists, and usually they are most helpful for practitioners and clients in their own countries. Little explicit attention is given to the fact that those materials, in almost all cases, are translated verbatim into other languages and considered as “standards” for practice in developing countries, despite the often deep differences among cultures. An obvious risk of directly H. Pour-Jafari (*) :B. Pourjafari Research Center for Molecular Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, PO Box 518, Hamadan, Iran e-mail: h_pourjafari@yahoo.com e-mail: pourjafari@umsha.ac.ir

Diversity and Economic Importance of Agroforestry species in Dhanore region of Rajouri district, Jammu &amp; Kashmir

Agroforestry system constitutes one of the major sources of livelihood and is an integral part of the economy of the inhabitants of Indian Himalayan Region (IHR). Ironically, very few studies are available on the agroforestry system of the IHR. A study focussing on diversity, nativity, endemism and economic importance of the trees and shrubs constituting the agroforestry system of the Dhanore region of district Rajouri of J&amp;K State was carried out with a view to compile basic data for further studies. A total of 44 species, 30 trees and 14 shrubs, have been listed. The utilization pattern of these species has revealed that all these are used as fuel; 30 species are also used as fodder for cattle; 22 as edibles; 20 as curatives for various ailments and a few species for other purposes. Twenty nine species have multipurpose utility. Strategies and action plan for conservation management of these species have been suggested.

Assessing biodiversity by remote sensing in mountainous terrain: the potential of LiDAR to predict forest beetle assemblages

Summary 1. Effective biodiversity management can only be implemented if data are available on assemblage–environment relationships. The level of detail needs to be relevant to the scale of planning and decision making. A number of remote‐sensing methods are available, but there are few studies that link information collected at both landscape and local scales. This is particularly true for arthropods even though these organisms are ecologically very important. 2. We assessed the predictive power of habitat variables measured by airborne laser scanning (light detection and ranging; LiDAR) to model the activity, richness and composition of assemblages of forest‐dwelling beetles. We compared the results with data acquired using conventional field methods. We sampled beetles with pitfall traps and flight‐interception traps at 171 sampling stations along an elevation gradient in a montane forest. 3. We found a high predictive power of LiDAR‐derived variables, which captured most of the predictive power of variables measured in ground surveys. In particular, mean body size and species composition of assemblages showed considerable predictability using LiDAR‐derived variables. The differences in the predictability of species richness and diversity of assemblages between trap types can be explained by sample size. We expect predictabilities with R2 of up to 0·6 for samples with 250 individuals on average. 4. The statistical response of beetle data and the ecological interpretability of results showed that airborne laser scanning can be used for cost‐effective mapping (LiDAR : field survey : beetles 15 : 100 : 260 € ha−1) of biodiversity even in remote mountain areas and in structurally complex habitats, such as forests. 5. Synthesis and applications. The strong relationship between characteristics of beetle assemblages to variables derived by laser scanning provides an opportunity to link data from local ground surveys of hyperdiverse taxa to data collected remotely at the landscape scale. This will enable conservation managers to evaluate habitats, define hotspots or map activity, richness and composition of assemblages at scales relevant for planning and management. In addition to the large area that can be sampled remotely, the grain of the data allows a single tree to be identified, which opens up the possibility of planning management actions at local scales.

A Case-Based Learning Approach for Teaching Undergraduate Veterinary Students about Dairy Herd Health Consultancy Issues

A case-based learning (CBL) format was implemented at the Veterinary School of Nantes, France, for veterinary students in their last year of the curriculum who had chosen to track toward a farm animal career. The focus of the CBL format was learning about dairy herd health consultancy. The goal was to emphasize teamwork among students, introduce professional communications and advisory relationships with clients, and work within the technical and economic limitations of participating farms. These farms volunteered to participate and had identified a problem. The learning objectives included gaining basic knowledge of herd-level diseases and the methods to control these within herds. The program focused on health audits of dairy farms performed by teams of four to five students, culminating in submission of a herd health management action plan specific for the farm visited by each team. The CBL program was comprised of defined learning objectives for each team. The learning process was supervised, from orientation through to validation, by a panel of experts from within the veterinary school and from local industry. Teams submitted written reports that listed recommendations and an action plan for implementation. This report was defended by each team in front of the farmers, their professional partners, and the panel of supervisors. Assessment of the program by students, participating farms, and industry professionals was positive.

Can A Community Evidence-based Asthma Care Program Improve Clinical Outcomes?

Asthma is associated with significant morbidity. Previous studies highlight significant variations in asthma management approaches within primary care settings where the adoption of published asthma guidelines is typically suboptimal. To determine whether the implementation of an evidence-based asthma care program in community primary care settings leads to improved clinical outcomes in asthma patients. METHODS, MEASUREMENTS, AND MAIN RESULTS: A community-based participatory research project was implemented at 8 primary care practices across Ontario, Canada, consisting of elements based on the Canadian Asthma Consensus Guidelines (asthma care map, program standards, management flow chart and action plan). A total of 1408 patients aged 2-55 years participated. Conditional logistic regression analyses were used to calculate the odds ratios (OR) comparing baseline to follow-up while adjusting for age, gender, socioeconomic status and other covariates. At 12-month follow-up, there were statistically significant reductions in self-reported asthma exacerbations from 77.8% to 54.5% [OR = 0.35; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.28-0.43]; emergency room visits due to asthma from 9.9% to 5.5% (OR = 0.47; 95% CI: 0.32-0.62); school absenteeism in children from 19.9% to 10.2% (OR = 0.37; 95% CI: 0.25-0.54); productivity loss in adults from 12.0% to 10.3% (OR = 0.49; 95% CI: 0.34-0.71); uncontrolled daytime asthma symptoms from 62.4% to 41.4% (OR = 0.34; 95% CI: 0.27-0.42); and uncontrolled nighttime asthma symptoms from 46.4% to 25.4% (OR = 0.29; 95% CI: 0.23-0.37). Development and implementation of a community-based primary care asthma care program led to risk reductions in exacerbations, symptoms, urgent health service use and productivity loss related to asthma.

A 2020 Vision: An Integrated Policy Reform for Air Quality Management in Hanoi, Viet Nam

Within the frame of the National Strategy for Environmental Protection 2010/ 2020 for Vietnam an Air Quality Management (AQM) action plan was developed for Hanoi. The work was carried out in cooperation with Hanoi DONREH and the Swiss-Vietnamese Clean Air Program, a project under a bilateral agreement of the two governments.The plan represents a systematic and integral approach, which provides the base for a comprehensive AQM with a long-term view. It systematically addresses the major air quality concerns in Hanoi, in particular e.g. the dust and micro-dust problem, direct vehicular emissions, pollution from the industry, and growing small and medium enterprise's in the residential areas. The action plan includes a sound situation analysis (based on reliable data), defines air quality/emission targets and prioritizes a set of feasible measures to achieve targets.Implementation of the AQM plan is expected to offer co-benefits, as the proposed measures will not only result in the reduction of air pollution in Hanoi and associated health risks, but also reduce substantial green house gas emissions from the transport and industrial sectors and reduce environmental damage costs. The SIM-air (Simple Interactive Model) analytical tool, was developed to support planning a comprehensive and systematic knowledge base, a shared-vision among the stakeholders involved, for informed decision making.

Habitat assessment for forest dwelling species using LiDAR remote sensing: Capercaillie in the Alps

Large-scale information on habitat suitability is indispensable for planning management actions to further endangered species with large-spatial requirements. So far, remote sensing based habitat variables mostly included environmental and land cover data derived from passive sensors, but lacked information on vegetation structure. This is a serious constraint for the management of endangered species with specific structural requirements. Light detection and ranging (LiDAR), in contrast to passive remote sensing techniques, may bridge this gap in structural information at the landscape scale. We investigated the potential of LiDAR data to quantify habitat suitability for capercaillie ( Tetrao urogallus), an endangered forest grouse in Central Europe, in a forest reserve of 17.7 km 2. We used continuous variables of horizontal and vertical stand structure from first and last pulse LiDAR data and presence–absence information from field work to model habitat suitability with generalized linear models (GLM). The two final habitat suitability models explained the observed presence–absence pattern moderately well (AUC of 0.71 and 0.77) with horizontal structure explaining better than vertical structure. Relative tree canopy cover was the most important variable with intermediate values indicating highest habitat suitability. As such, LiDAR allowed us to translate the results from habitat modeling at the landscape scale to effective management recommendations at the local scale at a level of detail that hitherto was unavailable for large areas. LiDAR thus enabled us to integrate individual habitat preferences at the scale of entire populations and thus offers great potential for effective habitat monitoring and management of endangered species.

Communicating in a crisis: A risk management issue?

This paper argues that most post-exercise or incident debriefs suggest that communications could have been better. It explores some of the difficulties of communicating in a crisis and suggests that if organisational culture does not allow for good communications in ‘peacetime’, then they are unlikely to be any better in a crisis situation. It is therefore suggested that crisis communications should be treated as a risk management issue and given a place on the corporate risk register so that the issue can be managed through an appropriate risk management action plan. The paper mainly focuses on internal communications although it also refers to the importance of media and external communications as part of an overall communications plan. Reference is made to the report following the Virginia Tech disaster in 2007 and the problems associated with communications in a university environment. The paper aims to provide the reader with a clearer understanding of some of the reasons why communications often fail in an incident and suggests some ways in which things may be improved in the future.