Informality, violence, and disaster risks: Coproducing inclusive early warning and response systems in urban informal settlements in Honduras

Abstract

Anticipatory disaster risk reduction (DRR) is an essential human right for the ~1 billion people living in informal settlements who are disproportionately exposed to climate-related hazards due to their high vulnerability. Participatory approaches are recognized as being critical for effective and sustainable disaster prevention, mitigation, and preparation through to response, but research on how to coproduce anticipatory DRR with people living and working in informal settlements is scant. Their exclusion is even more pronounced in challenging contexts, such as those characterized by social-political fragility and violence. As a result, a significant portion of the global population is left behind in best practices tied to global DRR ambitions, with DRR actions working neither with nor for the people most at risk. The signal case of urban informal settlements controlled by territorial gangs in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, illustrates the need for new thinking on how to inclusively mitigate, prepare for, and respond to natural hazard-related disasters. Our research examines the coproduction of early warning systems linked with response capacities for floods and landslides through the case study of the international NGO GOAL's work across the city with a focus on nine urban informal settlements with high levels of territorial gang violence. We explore how GOAL navigated informality and violent conflict to support the early warning and response system as an inclusive social process rather than a technical exercise. We identify four cross-cutting strategies employed by GOAL in support of local vulnerability reduction and capacity building based on a local systems approach. This research breaks new ground in identifying how to bridge the gap between knowledge and action in designing inclusive and sustainable early warning and response systems together with the millions of people around the world affected by the intersection of informality, violence, and disaster risks.

Inform@Risk. The Development of a Prototype for an Integrated Landslide Early Warning System in an Informal Settlement: the Case of Bello Oriente in Medellín, Colombia

“…The presented living lab approach is not the first LEWS to be installed in an informal settlement; other attempts have been made, for example in Rio de Janeiro (Heffer and ELLA, 2013), Honduras (Peters et al;, or in Nepal (Thapa and Adhikari, 2019). The interim results of the living lab confirm the common notion that an LEWS is a predominantly social system with embedded technical elements, even more so in an informal settlement with its strong social and political dynamics (Kelman and Glantz, 2014).…”

“…This is one of the reasons why Early Warning Systems (EWS) are considered key tools for reducing disaster risks and supporting climate adaptation (UNFCCC, 2022). Consequently, several integrated LEWS have been implemented throughout the world in recent years (Fathani et al, 2016, Fathani et al, 2023Peters et al, 2022). Based on these experiences the international standard ISO 22327 ( 2018), which provides a framework for the implementation of community-based LEWS, has been developed.…”

The Trade-Offs of Ukraine's Recovery: Fighting for the Future

“…In some ways, concerns such as these can be addressed by strategies that focus primarily on people, their needs, and their capabilities rather than just on roads or buildings and an if you build it, they will come infrastructure-based mentality. Research shows that such communitybased efforts in natural hazard contexts (Peters et al, 2022) and armed conflict-affected settings provide sustainable ways to reach vulnerability-reduction goals through direct partnership and coproduction with vulnerable populations themselves (Patel et al, 2021;Peters et al, 2022).…”

Co-production revisited: from knowledge plurality to action for disaster risk reduction

“…It involves engaging the user and the scientist via mutual learning and dialogues, enhancing user buy-in of resulting services that shape local agriculture, food security, DRR, energy, and water decisions (Kruk et al ., 2017). The co-production of anticipatory DRR brings researchers to work alongside affected people in disaster prevention, mitigation, and preparation, enabling more accurate and relevant information to enhance communication between actors (Peters et al ., 2022).…”