Avalanche risk governance in Türkiye (2000–2025): institutional fragmentation, international models, and policy options

This article conducts a structured institutional and policy analysis, combining a focused review of Türkiye’s disaster governance architecture and legal framework with a comparative synthesis of international organizational models (e.g., centralized directorates, integrated hazard services, and interoperable early warning and response systems). Avalanche risk governance is a multi-level policy challenge that depends on institutional coordination, legal clarity, and science–policy integration across meteorology, emergency management, transport, land-use planning, and local administration. In Türkiye, avalanches repeatedly affect mountain settlements, transport corridors, and winter tourism; however, responsibilities remain fragmented across agencies, producing gaps in prevention, preparedness, and risk communication.

The findings highlight three core governance deficits: (i) overlapping mandates and limited interoperability among institutions, (ii) weak vertical coordination between national and local levels for land-use and infrastructure risk reduction, and (iii) insufficient institutionalization of evidence-based monitoring and public communication. Building on comparative lessons, the article proposes a unified directorate model for Türkiye as a policy option to improve coherence, accountability, and implementation capacity, while outlining feasible reform pathways that align with international disaster risk governance principles. The study contributes to the environmental governance literature by framing avalanche risk as an institutional design and policy-coherence problem rather than solely a technical hazard management issue.