Addressing Climate Change Through Risk Mitigation: Welfare Implications of Index Insurance in Northeastern Tanzania

2016 ◽  
pp. 569-590
Author(s):  
Jon Einar Flatnes ◽  
Michael R. Carter
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Index Insurance ◽  
Welfare Implications

scholarly journals POSSIBILITY OF WEATHER-INDEX INSURANCE FOR CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IN NORTHEAST THAILAND

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (5) ◽  
pp. I_377-I_383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koshi YOSHIDA ◽  
Koki HOMMA ◽  
Masayasu MAKI ◽  
Keigo NODA ◽  
Hiroaki SHIRAKAWA ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Index Insurance ◽  
Northeast Thailand ◽  
Weather Index ◽  
Weather Index Insurance

Novel use of climate model data for deriving future flood risk underwriting and risk selection data – A Hong Kong Case Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Alexandre ◽  
Iain Willis
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Flood Damage ◽  
Flood Frequency ◽  
Commercial Building ◽  
Model Data ◽  
Change Factors

<p>The re/insurance, banking and mortgage sectors play an essential role in facilitating economic stability. As climate change-related financial risks increase, there has long been a need for tools that contribute to the global industry’s current and future flood risk resiliency. Recognising this gap, JBA Risk Management has pioneered use of climate model data for rapidly deriving future flood risk metrics to support risk-reflective pricing strategies and mortgage analysis for Hong Kong.</p><p>JBA’s established method uses daily temporal resolution precipitation and surface air temperature Regional Climate Model (RCM) data from the Earth System Grid Federation’s CORDEX experiment. Historical and future period RCM data were processed for Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 2.6 and 8.6, and time horizons 2046-2050 and 2070-2080 and used to develop fluvial and pluvial hydrological model change factors for Hong Kong. These change factors were applied to baseline fluvial and pluvial flood depths and extents, extracted from JBA’s high resolution 30m Hong Kong Flood Map. From these, potential changes in flood event frequency and severity for each RCP and time horizon combination were estimated.</p><p>The unique flood frequency and severity profiles for each flood type were then analysed with customised vulnerability functions, linking water depth to expected damage over time for residential and commercial building risks. This resulted in quantitative fluvial and pluvial flood risk metrics for Hong Kong.</p><p>Newly released, Hong Kong Climate Change Pricing Data is already in use by financial institutions. When combined with property total sum insured data, this dataset provides the annualised cost of flood damage for a range of future climate scenarios. For the first time, our industry has a tool to quantify baseline and future flood risk and set risk-reflective pricing for Hong Kong portfolios.</p><p>JBA’s method is adaptable for global use and underwriting tools are already available for the UK and Australia with the aim of improving future financial flood risk mitigation and management. This presentation will outline the method, provide a comparison of baseline and climate change flood impacts for Hong Kong and discuss the wider implications for our scientific and financial industries.</p>

scholarly journals Water, sanitation and hygiene risk factors for the transmission of cholera in a changing climate: using a systematic review to develop a causal process diagram

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-158
Author(s):  
Natalia Jones ◽  
Maha Bouzid ◽  
Roger Few ◽  
Paul Hunter ◽  
Iain Lake
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Rainwater Harvesting ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Diarrhoeal Disease ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Causal Process ◽  
Change Dynamics ◽  
Sanitation And Hygiene

Abstract Cholera is a severe diarrhoeal disease affecting vulnerable communities. A long-term solution to cholera transmission is improved access to and uptake of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). Climate change threatens WASH. A systematic review and meta-analysis determined five overarching WASH factors incorporating 17 specific WASH factors associated with cholera transmission, focussing upon community cases. Eight WASH factors showed lower odds and six showed higher odds for cholera transmission. These results were combined with findings in the climate change and WASH literature, to propose a health impact pathway illustrating potential routes through which climate change dynamics (e.g. drought, flooding) impact on WASH and cholera transmission. A causal process diagram visualising links between climate change dynamics, WASH factors, and cholera transmission was developed. Climate change dynamics can potentially affect multiple WASH factors (e.g. drought-induced reductions in handwashing and rainwater use). Multiple climate change dynamics can influence WASH factors (e.g. flooding and sea-level rise affect piped water usage). The influence of climate change dynamics on WASH factors can be negative or positive for cholera transmission (e.g. drought could increase pathogen desiccation but reduce rainwater harvesting). Identifying risk pathways helps policymakers focus on cholera risk mitigation, now and in the future.

Risking value theory in the political economy of finance and nature

2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 330-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett Christophers
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Financial Innovation ◽  
Value Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
Index Insurance ◽  
Climate Finance ◽  
Financial Instruments ◽  
Catastrophe Bonds ◽  
Economy Of Nature

Responding to calls for geographers to re-engage value theory in examining the political economy of nature, this article questions the capacity of such theory to grasp nature’s growing representation, valuation and exchange through financial instruments ranging from catastrophe bonds to carbon credits and from green bonds to index insurance. Drawing on and extending recent debates in political economy, it submits that understanding the contemporary nexus of climate change and financial innovation requires incorporating risk into value theory – it requires, that is, ‘risking’ value theory. Parsing the literature on climate finance, the article demonstrates how such risking might be achieved.

Does vegetation greening partly offset increasing rainfall pressure? Risk assessment of the water erosion tendency in China over the past 20 years.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han Wang ◽  
Wenwu Zhao ◽  
Yanxu Liu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Regional Climate Change ◽  
Water Erosion ◽  
Rainfall Erosivity ◽  
Vegetation Growth ◽  
Erosion Risk ◽  
State Water ◽  
State Area

<p>Soil water erosion is a severe environmental issue which seriously damaging the sustainability of agriculture. Regional climate change could aggravate the threat of erosion, whereas vegetation greening in China (an increasing trend in vegetation cover) could act as a mitigation to the threat. On the basis of the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation, we proposed a framework for performing an assessment of water erosion risk in China during 1998-2018. A contribution index was constructed to describe the influences of rainfall erosivity and cover management on water erosion risk changes in China during 1998-2018. The research objective was to explore the spatial pattern of water erosion risk change in China in recent decades and to identify the factor that has the largest contribution to the risk change. Results showed that: (a) The area with decreasing water erosion risk in China accounted for 34.97%, and the area with significant decreasing trends accounted for 20.04% of the middle and highly risky state areas. (b) The region that rainfall erosivity contributed more than cover management for absolute value accounted for 76.54%, whereas the contribution of cover management was increasing. (c) Vegetation greening can partly offset the stress caused by climate change. Water erosion risk in China decreased more than increased in risky state area. The pixels with cover management contribute more than rainfall erosivity was concentrated within the area where risk is decreasing, indicating a great contribution of vegetation greening to the risk mitigation. Consequently, enhancing the vegetation growth in the highly risky state water erosion region could reduce the erosion threat in China.</p>

scholarly journals Sustainable Transitions of Urban Projects towards Mitigation and Adaptation Projects for Climate Change: The case of Medellin

2021 ◽  
Vol 1203 (3) ◽  
pp. 032011
Author(s):  
Gino Perez-Lancellotti ◽  
Marcela Ziede
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Urban Design ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Traditional Role ◽  
Sociotechnical System ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Transitions Theory ◽  
New Generation ◽  
Mitigation Projects

Abstract The research investigates the relationship between cities and climate change by examining how urban projects shifted to mitigation and adaptation for climate change at an urban scale. The article is based upon two complementary approaches, a multilevel analysis from sustainable transitions theory and a framework of interrelations of urban mitigation and adaptation projects. The methodological design is a case study; we analyzed the case of Medellin that, at the beginning of the 2000's, implemented public transport projects, urban parks, educational and cultural facilities, and risk mitigation projects in the surrounding hills. The main findings are that specific projects at an urban scale are operating as niches or experiments, taking advantage of windows of opportunities, and triggering changes in the urban design routines, framing a new sociotechnical system. It is found that governance, leadership, teams of experts and urban planners are drivers for the transition of urban projects, which were initially designed for social and transport needs, to urban mitigation projects for climate change. At the same time, urban mitigation projects such as the Metropolitan Green Belt are transiting to adaptation projects for climate change. The conclusion for this case study is that while most urban projects retain their traditional role, a new generation of projects with mitigation and adaptation features is emerging in the context of climate change. This article contributes to expanding the empirical analysis of the literature on the theory of sustainable transitions specifically related to cities and urban projects. The theoretical framework of urban projects and their linkages with climate change are enriched. The conceptual framework of the analysis is replicable and useful for practitioners in the field of urban design and researchers interested in comparisons to identify patterns or typologies. In addition, the article contributes to sensitize actors involved in public urban design policies in their roles as managers of transitions.

scholarly journals Projected Impact of Mid-21st Century Climate Change on Wildfire Hazard in a Major Urban Watershed outside Portland, Oregon USA

Fire ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 70
Author(s):  
Andy McEvoy ◽  
Max Nielsen-Pincus ◽  
Andrés Holz ◽  
Arielle J. Catalano ◽  
Kelly E. Gleason
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Urban Watershed ◽  
Wildfire Occurrence ◽  
Wildfire Hazard ◽  
Large Fires ◽  
Rcp 8.5

Characterizing wildfire regimes where wildfires are uncommon is challenged by a lack of empirical information. Moreover, climate change is projected to lead to increasingly frequent wildfires and additional annual area burned in forests historically characterized by long fire return intervals. Western Oregon and Washington, USA (westside) have experienced few large wildfires (fires greater than 100 hectares) the past century and are characterized to infrequent large fires with return intervals greater than 500 years. We evaluated impacts of climate change on wildfire hazard in a major urban watershed outside Portland, OR, USA. We simulated wildfire occurrence and fire regime characteristics under contemporary conditions (1992–2015) and four mid-century (2040–2069) scenarios using Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5. Simulated mid-century fire seasons expanded in most scenarios, in some cases by nearly two months. In all scenarios, average fire size and frequency projections increased significantly. Fire regime characteristics under the hottest and driest mid-century scenarios illustrate novel disturbance regimes which could result in permanent changes to forest structure and composition and the provision of ecosystem services. Managers and planners can use the range of modeled outputs and simulation results to inform robust strategies for climate adaptation and risk mitigation.

Nature-based solutions must be realized - not just proclaimed - in face of climatic extremes

Erdkunde ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl Beierkuhnlein
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Natural Hazards ◽  
Broad Spectrum ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Linear Trend ◽  
Spatial Uncertainty ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Weather Extremes ◽  
Protection Measures ◽  
The Future

Natural hazards resulting from climate change are increasing in frequency and intensity. As this is not a linear trend but rather by singularities and anomalies including a broad spectrum of climatic and weather extremes with high temporal and spatial uncertainty, focused avoidance strategies are difficult to prepare. However, the effects of climate change are mostly addressed with outdated ‘business as usual’ approaches by governments and most stakeholders, which are unfit to tackle the complexity of current challenges. Coping action for natural hazards is mostly undertaken during and after such events compensating damage through payments and restoration. In the future, pro-active nature-based solutions are needed for risk mitigation and avoiding severe damage through enhancing all facets of biodiversity from species richness, structural roughness, to spatial heterogeneity of ecosystems. This will not avoid extreme weather events, but it will reduce the damage of increasingly appearing natural hazards. However, this strategy cannot be implemented all of a sudden. Long-term and spatial concepts are needed. For this purpose, currently missing governance structures based on geographical, geoscientific, ecological, meteorological, and societal expertise should be installed. In recent years, a good scientific and knowledge basis for the required solutions has been developed, which now must translate into action. Here, a series of suggestions is compiled for a broad spectrum of extreme events and societal fields, which is far from being complete but should stimulate critically needed creativity and commitment. Nature-based solutions will not deliver a complete protection and cannot be the only kind of action, but we can no longer rely on post-disaster compensation or on the safety illusion of mere engineering and construction works. The efficiency of biodiversity as an insurance for maintaining ecosystem services is well understood. The implementation of nature-based adaptation, coping, and protection measures is less expensive than traditional end-of-the-pipe constructions. It requires an in-depth understanding of interacting processes and trans-disciplinary cooperation based on a broad acceptance in the public. Investments into these solutions would pay off, not tomorrow, but in the future. It is the best sustainable and feasible approach for disaster prevention.

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