Intermunicipal risk management: Addressing territorial and local expectations

Abstract

The Intermunicipal Community of the Coimbra Region is a public administrative entity that gathers 19 municipalities of Central Portugal. As part of its competences, the Community assumed the objective of complementing the current emergency planning instruments by strengthening the local and regional intervention in the areas of prevention, contingency and recovery, a process that culminates in the elaboration of an Intermunicipal Risk Management Plan. Several phases were conducted as part of the knowledge building process, considering a risk management approach. Municipal and district emergency plans were analyzed, identifying intervention areas where both plans could be articulated. Relevant sectorial planning instruments (mobility, water, forest and urban planning, among others) were analyzed in order to propose procedures that can improve the contingency of strategic, vital and day-today activities. A workshop with local municipal risk practitioners was conducted, following a Q-Methodology approach, where constraints and strengths of current emergency planning were identified, and future expectations on the intermunicipal role in risk management were assembled. Existing and new susceptibility maps were produced for specific relevant risks (fog and ice cover, for example). Finally, territorial vulnerability was assessed through principal component analysis identifying vulnerability drivers to be addressed in risk reduction measures and long term policies. The definition of a strategy for the intermunicipal management of risks has been a fruitful challenge for managers, stakeholders and institutions that reflects a broader perspective in risk governance for the region.