Interpreting risks through the geographical identity: the importance of local perception in defining global vulnerability

If the perceived risk does not correspond to the real risk, what is risk? This paper aims to study the concept of perception and how it influences vulnerability to disasters. In particular, the discussion starts with the assumption that risk globalization has amplified the role of perception, reducing emotional distances. This makes it difficult to have a real perception of global risks, and it favours the distortion of their narrative. As discussed at considerable length in the literature, different cultural groups perceive environmental crises in different ways. This happens because of the weight that these groups’ cultural identities have in their level of perception. However, different levels of perception do not just result in low or high capacity to respond to emergencies; rather, they give rise to different ways of interpreting how to deal with risks. This paper focuses on the case of Madeira Island in particular. During the “Riscos naturais e comunidade local. Construir a resiliência através da participação” seminar, data on local perceptions was collected with the aim of understanding the level of disaster resilience on the island. The workshop was a moment of knowledge-sharing between scientists and the community. The results highlighted a certain lack in community identity as one of the main factors to be considered.