Public-Private Partnerships in Disaster Risk Reduction: The Case of the Chemical Industry of Coatzacoalcos, Mexico

This paper analyzes the chemical hazards-related disaster risk reduction (DRR) scheme in the petrochemical industry oriented city of Coatzacoalcos (Mexico) in the context of political decentralization. This work addresses the role of public-private partnerships, as well as the institutional environment around civil protection and chemical risk management. The paper identifies the scopes of action of public and private agents, and analyzes the legal framework, the informal political agreements and the non-legal regulations that allow these agents' collaboration. The study shows that the functionality of these partnerships is based on forms of trust that do not rely entirely on the normative framework established by State organizations and international agreements; the trust that underlies their schemes of collaboration is relatively autonomous from the bureaucratic side of this institutional environment. The study concludes that the benefits and rights accessed through personal networks are the core of the institutional environment around risk governance.