The Role of Civil Society in Extreme Events Through a Narrative Reflection of Pathways and Long-Term Relationships

This reflective commentary is a facilitated exchange between two retired professionals in community risk management for extreme weather events – in two different cultural contexts. Paul Cobbing (formerly CEO UK National Flood Forum) and Ewan Waller (Australian land, forest and bush fire manager and consultant with forty years’ experience) share their insights gained through long-standing experience of working with and for communities. The facilitator is an academic researcher in community-based water risk management. Using case-study examples from their national contexts, they collectively reflect on the role of communities throughout the resilience cycle; the contribution of traditional lay knowledges and cultural practices in local resilience building; the harnessing of different knowledge flows; the importance of understanding communities; the values needed at intersections between communities with the professional world; the implications for the changing roles of risk management agencies; opportunities and blocks or impediments to collaboration; and what matters in the management of partnerships and in drawing strengths in crises. The three discussants conclude by highlighting seven important cross-cutting themes or principles needed in community-led approaches that give or return power to communities to shape the place in which they live, alongside others. These connect different types of local knowledge (indigenous, lay, experiential) for community-centered learning across settings.