The policy landscape and challenges of disaster risk financing: navigating risk and uncertainty

Abstract

A more anticipatory, pre-agreed response is a shared goal of many in the disaster management and humanitarian communities. This paper considers the emerging policy landscape of disaster risk financing (DRF), which is taken here to include mechanisms that allow agencies to act in advance of disasters occurring, as well as those that aim to respond earlier to disasters which have already happened. What they both have in common is no longer waiting for needs to become apparent before responding; however, this creates a challenge for practitioners because of the potential for acting erroneously. This paper provides a more cohesive way of understanding approaches in this policy area through the shared challenge of decision-making under the condition of uncertainty. Drawing on expert interviews and science and technology studies theory, it sets out some recommendations on how practitioners can navigate risk and uncertainty better within DRF and in a more nuanced way.