From Hazard Mitigation to Climate Adaptation: A Review of Home Buyout Program Literature

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Alex Greer ◽  
Sherri Brokopp Binder ◽  
Elyse Zavar
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 399-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Kousky

Natural disaster losses have been increasing worldwide. Insurance is thought to play a critical role in improving resilience to these events by both promoting recovery and providing incentives for investments in hazard mitigation. This review first examines the functioning of disaster insurance markets broadly and then turns to reviewing empirical studies on the role of natural disaster insurance in recovery and the impacts of disaster insurance on incentives for ex ante hazard mitigation and land use. Rigorous empirical work on these topics is limited. The work that has been done suggests that insurance coverage does improve recovery outcomes, but impacts on risk reduction may be modest. More studies comparing outcomes across insured and uninsured properties are needed, particularly for better understanding the role of insurance in climate adaptation.


Author(s):  
Kelly Klima ◽  
Alessandra Jerolleman

AbstractNatural hazard mitigation is a recent field in name only. For decades various professionals have been practicing hazard mitigation: for example, emergency managers have been working with architects and city planners to update building codes for disaster-resistant construction, civil engineers have been working with local officials to design flood-resistant urban drainage systems, and foresters have been working with state officials to enact more effective prescribed burning practices. Yet most often, natural hazard mitigation has taken place as isolated activities scattered within the daily duties of diverse professions – an accidentally cross-disciplinary effort recognized as vitally important to protect individuals and communities, yet not recognized as its own multidisciplinary field. The crucial importance of natural hazard mitigation requires a more coherent approach, with consistent and accessible technical information and training, formal and informal discourse among hazard mitigation professionals, interaction with a greater public awareness of the social components, and recognition of hazard mitigation as a profession in its own right. Simultaneously, hazard mitigation professionals need to strengthen their multidisciplinary tendencies and continue to collaborate with other key fields, such as public health and the various sciences. Today many professionals are starting to bridge the gaps between disaster risk reduction, hazard mitigation, and climate adaptation. This article discusses the benefits of emergency management professionals working with others in community partnerships to achieve resilience


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Philip Brick ◽  
Kent Woodruff

This case explores the Methow Beaver Project (MBP), an ambitious experiment to restore beaver (Castor canadensis) to a high mountain watershed in Washington State, USA. The Pacific Northwest is already experiencing weather regimes consistent with longer term climate projections, which predict longer and drier summers and stronger and wetter winter storms. Ironically, this combination makes imperative more water storage in one of the most heavily dammed regions in the nation. Although the positive role that beaver can play in watershed enhancement has been well known for decades, no project has previously attempted to re-introduce beaver on a watershed scale with a rigorous monitoring protocol designed to document improved water storage and temperature conditions needed for human uses and aquatic species. While the MBP has demonstrated that beaver can be re-introduced on a watershed scale, it has been much more difficult to scientifically demonstrate positive changes in water retention and stream temperature, given hydrologic complexity, unprecedented fire and floods, and the fact that beaver are highly mobile. This case study can help environmental studies students and natural resource policy professionals think about the broader challenges of diffuse, ecosystem services approaches to climate adaptation. Beaver-produced watershed improvements will remain difficult to quantify and verify, and thus will likely remain less attractive to water planners than conventional storage dams. But as climate conditions put additional pressure on such infrastructure, it is worth considering how beaver might be employed to augment watershed storage capacity, even if this capacity is likely to remain at least in part inscrutable.


2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 535-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Merrill ◽  
Jack Kartez ◽  
Karen Langbehn ◽  
Frank Muller-Karger ◽  
Catherine J. Reynolds

Impact ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (3) ◽  
pp. 26-28
Author(s):  
Tsukasa Ohba

Volcanology is an extremely important scientific discipline. Shedding light on how and why volcanoes erupt, how eruptions can be predicted and their impact on humans and the environment is crucial to public safety, economies and businesses. Understanding volcanoes means eruptions can be anticipated and at-risk communities can be forewarned, enabling them to implement mitigation measures. Professor Tsukasa Ohba is a scientist based at the Graduate School of International Resource Studies, Akita University, Japan, and specialises in volcanology and petrology. Ohba and his team are focusing on volcanic phenomena including: phreatic eruptions (a steam-driven eruption driven by the heat from magma interacting with water); lahar (volcanic mudflow); and monogenetic basalt eruptions (which consist of a group of small monogenetic volcanoes, each of which erupts only once). The researchers are working to understand the mechanisms of these phenomena using Petrology. Petrology is one of the traditional methods in volcanology but has not been applied to disastrous eruptions before. The teams research will contribute to volcanic hazard mitigation.


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