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A framework for considering justice aspects in integrated wildfire risk management

Abstract

There is increasing evidence that anthropogenic climate change and socioeconomic development are altering the dynamics of extreme wildfire events, leading to increasing wildfire risk globally and causing potential new conflicts in wildfire risk management (WFRM). Managing these risks in increasingly complex governance settings raises important equity concerns; in particular, what is perceived as just in terms of outcomes and processes. We develop a framework for identifying and categorizing along the WFRM cycle (prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery and adaptation) crucial and generally applicable aspects of distributional, procedural and restorative justice. We argue that policymakers and decision-makers should proactively consider all three justice aspects within collaborative governance policy processes to successfully innovate integrated WFRM strategies that respond to equity concerns.

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Fig. 1: Aspects of distributional, procedural and restorative justice applied to the WFRM context.

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Acknowledgements

This paper is based on research funded by the European Union’s H2020 Research and Innovation programme under grant agreement no. 101036534. We thank K. Petersen for valuable comments and feedback on an earlier version of this paper.

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T.S. conceived the study and prepared the paper. C.B. contributed extensively to the conceptual framework design and writing of the manuscript. J.H., T.D.-H., E. Preinfalk, J.L.-B., A.S., M.S. and E. Plana contributed equally to the conceptual framework design and the editing of the manuscript. All authors applied the conceptual framework, discussed the implications and commented on the paper at all stages.

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Correspondence to T. Schinko.

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Schinko, T., Berchtold, C., Handmer, J. et al. A framework for considering justice aspects in integrated wildfire risk management. Nat. Clim. Chang. 13, 788–795 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01726-0

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