SRA-E Lisbon 2017

In Sweden the municipalities have to develop a risk and vulnerability report every 4th year which should be sent to the County Administrative Board and on top of that an additional yearly supplement according to the law (SFS 2006: 544). The report has to follow instructions made by Swedish Civil Contingency Agency (MSB). In Sweden one of the fundamental principal is public access to official records to ensure the confidence for the system by taking part of public documents to assure a transparent administration and decision system. That implies that openness is the point of departure for all incoming and produced documents within the authority and the secrecy is the exception. The exception is used in cases for documents obviously addressed to the official as a private person or material classified as especially sensible. When it comes to how to handle risk and vulnerability reports it can be done in different ways at different municipalities while the fundamental principle of municipal autonomy makes the county councils and municipalities enjoy a high degree of independence and have the right to make their own decisions. As this is the departure and essential base for handling information this presentation will focus on how emergency coordinator or officials working with emergency coordination 40 municipalities solve the contradiction of communicating risks to the civil society and while doing that at the same time expose the risks in the society. The presentation will also capture the different views and understandings of the contradiction in the global context of increasing social unrest.