Internal Publication
Risk perception and the choice to live in flood risk zones?
Climate extremities like floods have gained some notoriety in the world which have heightened some interest in the phenomenon in recent years. How people who live in flood risk zones relate to and survive this environmental impact are important to understanding the flood disaster discourse. Interestingly, the risks associated with floods have not deterred people from inhabiting flood prone areas. This systematic review looks beyond the physical and economic dimensions and asks if people’s appreciation of risks have a place in their decision to live in flood risk zones? Their decision may be guided by risk domains which highlight three scenarios; nothing will happen, there will be losses or gains. The latter, in the case of flooding, is corroborated by the views of rice farmers. The review found that what influences people’s behavior in response to environmental impacts like floods is inherently embedded within their culture and society. It is therefore erroneous to think that people’s decision to live in flood risk zones is irrational. Local knowledge systems which is specific to a people have often lowered the perceptions of risk among people by teaching them how to live with and survive floods. Modern science has on the contrary heightened risk perceptions and advocated rejection of flood risk zones.
Uploaded by: Nyarko Lawrence FletcherAuthor: Fletcher, Nyarko Lawrence | ORCID: 0000-0002-2232-0959
Institution: Université Abdou Moumouni Niamey | Centre: West African German Centre for Sustainable Rural Transformation (WAC-SRT)
Type: Academic paper | English
Subjects: Climate and Environment, Development
Date: 2022 | Pages: 11
Copyright: Fletcher, Nyarko Lawrence | License: The Author
