Title: What's important? Making what is valuable and worth protecting explicit when performing risk and vulnerability analyses

Authors: Jerry Nilsson, Per Becker

Addresses: Lund University Centre for Risk Analysis and Management (LUCRAM), Lund University, P.O. Box 118, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden. ' Lund University Centre for Risk Analysis and Management (LUCRAM), Lund University, P.O. Box 118, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden

Abstract: Values and opinions about what is valuable, are of central importance in risk and vulnerability analyses. Yet what is considered valuable is seldom explicitly established. The aim of this study is to explore what groups of civil servants express as valuable and worth protecting when performing risk and vulnerability analyses in their organisations and to discuss the underlying reasons for their stipulations. A theoretical framework is elaborated and applied on the outcome of four seminars, in which participants from Swedish public organisations express what they consider valuable and worth protecting. The results show considerable variation in what is expressed as valuable and worth protecting. Possible explanations for the variation and the usefulness of the outcomes of the different seminars are discussed.

Keywords: explicit value; opinions; valuable; worth protecting; intrinsic value; extrinsic value; risk assessment; vulnerability analysis; make explicit; variation; crisis management; emergency management; instrumental; civil servants; Sweden.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRAM.2009.030704

International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management, 2009 Vol.13 No.3/4, pp.345 - 363

Published online: 30 Dec 2009 *

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