Modern natural risk management presupposes that once natural risks are understood, the necessary measures will be taken by the locally competent bodies. Field observations however show that scientific knowledge encounters locally other sources of environmental knowledge which can present resistance to risk management propositions. This special issue adopted a constructivist frame to analyse how natural risks (coastal floods and earthquakes)are locally understood, remembered, and avoided. The comparative fieldwork approach across national contexts (Italy, France and Morocco) in which different natural risks were considered revealed similar local psychosocial dynamics which may be summarised as follows: (1) Knowledge diversity; (2) Local history and trust; (3)Shifting risk rationalisationsand (4) Risk objectification.