On May 19, 2022, Ernesto Rodriguez-Sanchez, adaptation and resilience consultant, participated in the first day of the Civil Security Week 2022 organized by the Association de Sécurité civile du Québec (ASCQ), in collaboration with the Association des techniciens en prévention incendie du Québec (ATPIQ). This second edition of exchanges allowed participants to share good practices and to advance the development of a culture of civil security in the province.
The following key points emerged from the event:
- There is a strong consensus on the seriousness of the consequences of climate change and the urgency to act accordingly in an adequate and effective manner. In the face of global systemic risks, the latest Global Assessment on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR 2022) emphasizes the importance of moving away from a linear cause and effect approach to a systems thinking approach. More disasters in the future will not only mean more work for emergency responders, but also more resources to better manage the critical situation. The current civil protection system is already overwhelmed by the new challenges of systemic risks and therefore, we need to rethink how to plan and deliver these services. Civil security managers must relearn how to improvise, to put themselves in agile action mode, and above all, to be inspired and to work better in a collaborative and transversal way with the other actors of the society.
- Theoretical models to explain hazards and their manifestations have evolved over time. From the attribution of a disaster as an act of God through vulnerability theory to resilience theory, these models are becoming less and less useful in understanding the challenges in the face of climate change. In the risk management puzzle, it is essential to add new variables to better protect our community, such as our history, attachment to the land, people’s emotions, cultural differences, spatiality and domino effects. Sometimes the concept of sustainability does not accord with resilience. Government response has been largely superficial, as evidenced by the increasing number of disasters and impacts. However, there is still no magic bullet to better frame effective mitigation and adaptation efforts. There are still many challenges to managing to better understand our approach to more effective and sustainable risk management.
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CCG congratulates the partnership signed between key players in the four dimensions of civil security. They are AGSICQ, ASCQ, CRAIM and RÉCO-Québec who want to develop a global and systemic approach to civil security in Quebec to continue to advance the resilience of organizations and society. https://www.ascq.org/entente-de-collaboration/
Finally, we thank ASCQ and ATPIQ for the knowledge sharing and the successful organization of this event.