Mountain Riskscapes: Incorporating Complex Realities of Dynamic Social Ecological Systems into Disaster Risk Reduction

This chapter evaluates the utility of applying the concept of riskscapes in mountain regions to reflect the dynamic, multidimensional, and multi-sectoral nature of risk in mountain systems and the governance processes required to address it. Based on Arjun Appadurai’s understanding of “-scapes” (Public Cult 2(2):1–23, 1990), and further developed by others, for example Müller-Mahn and Everts (Riskscapes: the spatial dimensions of risk. In: The spatial dimension of risk. How geography shapes the emergence of riskscapes. Routledge, 2013), riskscapes refers to features that relate risk, space, and practice. It embraces the multitude of phenomena and activities which contribute to the creation, but also the reduction, of risk and considers potential conflicts of interest linked to them. Riskscapes gives equal weight to physical hazards and to social practices, governance structures, and power relations. Thus, riskscapes represents a conceptual approach that considers risk perception, decision making processes, and limitations posed particularly by unknown unknowns. Understood in such a holistic way, the approach can incorporate many factors and thus can serve as a useful framework for addressing the multifaceted topic of community resilience.