Trends of Natural and technological Hazards and Costs of Adaptation in Europe Economics of Natural Disasters Bridging g Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Adaptation Efforts and Strategies Venice, 10-11 February 2011 Dr. Stéphane Isoard Climate change adaptation and economics (Stephane.Isoard@eea.europa.eu) 1
The EEA mission The European Environment Agency is the EU body dedicated to providing sound, independent information on the environment We are a main information source for those involved in developing, adopting, implementing and evaluating environmental policy, and also the general public The EEA is An information provider and analyst Building bridges between science and policy - Boundary organisation Supported by strong networks to carry out its work EEA clients are Institutions and governments: European Commission, European Parliament, Council, EEA member countries Policy influencers: NGOs, business, media, advisory groups, scientists, debaters General public 32 EEA members and 6 collaborating countries 2
3 Examples of EEA reports
SOER 2010 (Nov 2010): thematic assessments on understanding climate change, adapting to climate change Thematic assessments Understanding climate change Mitigating climate change Adapting to climate change Biodiversity Land use Soil Marine and coastal environment Consumption and environment Material resources and waste Water resources: quantity & flows Freshwater quality Air pollution Urban environment Assessment of global megatrends Social megatrends Technological megatrends Economic megatrends Environmental megatrends Political megatrends Country assessments Country profiles National and regional stories Common environmental themes Climate change mitigation Land use Nature protection & biodiversity Waste Freshwater Air pollution Each EEA member country (32) and EEA cooperating country (6) assessed all six environmental themes above. 4
Ecosystems and biodiversity Agriculture and forestry Vulnerable sectors Water resources, flooding, water quality Coastal zones, marine resources, fisheries Tourism Energy (supply and demand) Built environment, infrastructure Human health Land management, regional planning (cross-cutting) Insurance services 5
Europe s key past and projected impacts and vulnerability Most vulnerable areas Southern Europe Mountain areas (Alps, etc) Coastal zones River floodplains Arctic region More detailed vulnerability assessment needed (national/sectoral/ local) Main biogeographic regions of Europe (EEA member countries)
Vulnerability of coastal areas One third of the EU population is estimated to live within 50km of the coast and some 140,000 km² of land is currently within 1m of sea level. pa ast 7
8 Vulnerability of coastal areas
9 Vulnerability of coastal areas
10 Vulnerability to river floods
11 Damage costs Natural disasters
Damage costs Integrated economic assessment 12
Cost of Adaptation 13
Cost of Adaptation 14
2011 Mapping the impacts of natural hazards and technological accidents in Europe -content: overview on the various impacts of hazards in EEA32 1998-2009, including spatial analysis, trends, management options, data gaps and information needs - covering storm, extreme temperature, forest fires, WSD, floods, avalanches, landslides, earthquakes and volcanoes, oil spill, industrial accidents, toxic spills - mainly based on data from EM-DAT (CRED) and NatCatSERVICE (MunichRe) 15 Regional climate change impacts
Impacts of natural hazards in Europe 1998-2009 Disasters caused by natural hazards caused nearly 100,000000 fatalities and about 150 billion in overall losses Hazard type Recorded events Fatalities Mio. people affected overall losses (bn ) insured losses (bn ) Storm 155 729 3.803 44.338 20.532 Extreme temperature events 101 77 551 0.005 9.962 0.186 Forest Fires 35 191 0.163 6.917 0.097 Drought 8 0 0 4.940 0.000 Flood 213 1 126 3.145 52.173 12.331 #3 #1 Snow avalanche 8 130 0.01 0.742 0.198 Landslide 9 212 0.007 0.551 0.206 Earthquake 46 18 864 3.978 29.205 2.189 Volcano 1 0 0 0.004 0.000 Total 576 98 803 11.112 148.831 35.739 Source: EM-DAT 16
Impacts of technological accidents in Europe 1998-2009 Source: EM-DAT 17
(Some) key messages from the Hazard report Extreme temperature events caused the highest number of human fatalities. Flooding and storms were the most costly hazards. The overall losses recorded d in the study period added d up to about EUR 52 billion for floods and EUR 44 billion for storms. Technological accidents caused the most severe ecosystem impacts. More effort is needed d to implement an Integrated Risk Management (IRM) approach that includes prevention, preparedness, response and recovery for all hazards across Europe. Successful disaster risk reduction relies on solid evidence. Despite recent improvements in the information and databases on several types of hazards, establishing more comprehensive information systems would significantly improve the analysis and assessment of the impacts. 18
Data issues: Do we get a comprehensive overview? yes but no Hazard type Storms Extreme Temp Earthquakes Global DBs Forest Fires WSD Floods? Avalanches Landslides A combination of several global DB can give a good overview for some hazards, but not for all. 19
EU Adaptation Framework Phase 1: 2009-2012 Four PILLARS (Phase 2: comprehensive EU adaptation strategy from 2013 onwards) PILLAR I PILLAR II PILLAR III PILLAR IV Strengthen the Knowledge/ Evidence Base Mainstream climate Adaptation into key policy areas Employ a combination of policy instruments Advance work internationally on Adaptation Working in Partnership with EU, national, regional and local authorities: Impact and Adaptation Steering Group (IASG) and working groups (e.g. Knowledge Base) Many EU countries have developed national adaptation strategies 20
EU Adaptation Clearinghouse for Europe (ACE) Users: governments (EU, national) initially Objectives: Facilitate collection and dissemination of information Assist effective uptake by decision makers Contribute to more co-ordination (sectoral policies, institutional level) Key principles: Co-ordinate ordinate with global, national, sectoral and regional knowledge platforms/nodes Focus on EU and transboundary value added (EU policies, to complement national initiatives iti Open and interoperable platform Phased approach: Phase I to be available end- Phased approach: Phase I to be available end 2011/early 2012 (cooperation of Commission, EEA, JRC)
Content Adaptation Clearinghouse for Europe (ACE) Climate change observations and scenarios GMES - Essential climate variables Link with GFCS + regional / national centers Land-use, water, socio-economic observations, statistics and scenarios Impacts & Vulnerability Integration information on climate, land-use, water, ecosystems, socio-economic variables Exposure to impacts, sensitivity and adaptive capacity Detailed geographical and sectoral perspective Vulnerability indicators, policyoriented Adaptation plans and strategies Information on existing adaptation strategies, key institutions and stakeholders Joint activities between MS and third countries (research, adaptation measures) Practical tools for the development of adaptation policy Adaptation measures, actions Extended database of measures Typology Assessment of environmental, social, economic impacts Identifying noregret measures Contractor to DG CLIMA, up to Feb 2012, EEA to maintain and manage afterwards DG CLIMA + ENV manage, EEA and JRC in management group (other DGs involved like DG SANCO, AGRI, MARE, REGIO, RTD) Countries, researchers, others in WG on knowledge base Various prototypes to be tested/evaluated in 2011 by User Forum
EU Adaptation Clearinghouse for Europe (ACE) The focus for Implementation ti Phase 1 will be mainly on decision makers, working on the development and implementation of strategies for adaptation to climate change National and regional policy-makers Agencies, boundary organizations and research projects All key sectors that are relevant for common European policies: Water management Agriculture and forests Biodiversity/nature protection (terrestrial, freshwater) Coastal areas Marine (biodiversity) and fisheries Health (human, animal, plant) Infrastructure (transport, energy, other) Financial instruments and insurance Disaster risk reduction
EU Adaptation Clearinghouse for Europe (ACE) The Adaptation Clearinghouse for Europe will not give you the answer to your policy question Besides, given the characteristics of adaptation (cross sectoral, transboundary etc.) there will probably not be one single and unique optimal solution However: It will guide you in finding appropriate information and knowledge required to help you answering your question It assists you by providing structured information on relevant e issues, good practices ces etc. It will provide you with tools that can be used to help you forward
Example of national plans/portals
Biodiversity Information System for Europe and the biodiversity baseline
Towards national and regional adaptation strategies The White Paper recognises the need to develop adaptation strategies at EU, national and regional levels National adaptation strategies/plans: Adopted (11): Finland (2005), France (2006), Spain (2006), the Netherlands (2007),Denmark (2008), Germany (2008), Hungary (2008), Norway (2008), Portugal (2010), United Kingdom (2008), Sweden (2009) Under preparation: Belgium, Estonia, Latvia, Romania IVA assessments: most of the remaining countries Overview table kept up-to-date by the EEA: http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/climate/national-adaptation-strategies Regional and urban adaptation strategies Adopted: Andalucia (Spain), North-Rhine Westphalia (Germany), Rhône-Alpes (France) Adopted: Barcelona, Copenhagen, London, Rotterdam 27 Adaptation responses and options
Thank you for your attention! Please do not hesitate to ask the European Environment Agency for information http://www.eea.europa.eu Stephane.Isoard@eea.europa.eu 28