Page - 311 - in Loss and Damage from Climate Change - Concepts, Methods and Policy Options

12 IntegratedDisasterRiskManagementandAdaptation 311 12.7 Synthesis Thischapterhasdiscussedintegratedapproaches to themanagementofrisksrelated to extremeweather andclimate change in the context ofLoss andDamage (L&D). Weparticularlyfocusonrisksfromextremeweather,whichareexpectedtoincrease infrequencyandintensityinmanyregionsaroundtheglobe.Wefollowthedefinition ofL&Dasstrategies thatfocusontheresidualrisksthatremainafter(cost-effective) adaptation strategies have been implemented. Integrated riskmanagement implies thataholisticviewis taken in interventionsaimedat reducinghazard,vulnerability, andexposuretonaturaldisasters.Wediscussedavarietyofsuchstrategies,likeflood- protectionaimedatpreventinghazards,individualscaledamagemitigationmeasures that reduce vulnerability of buildings to flood impactswhich can be formalised in buildingcode regulations, zoningpolicies that aim to limit (growth in) exposureof properties tonaturalhazards, and insurance forcovering residual risk. Themainconclusions fromthis chapter canbesummarisedas follows: • Riskassessmentmethodsareanimportantfirst step inorder to identifyrisk levels on a spatial scale. The mapping of areas with high hazard and risk can guide whereriskmanagementstrategiesmaybeneeded.Estimationoffutureriskunder scenarios of climate change provides insights into the needs for adaptation and L&Dmeasures to limitpossible residual risks, aswe illustrated forHoChiMinh City. • Cost-benefitanalysis allows foraprioritisationof riskmanagement interventions basedoneconomicefficiencycriteria.Thismethodallowsforidentifyingeconom- icallydesirable riskmanagement strategiesandadaptationoptions.Theexpected reduced risk delivered by a strategy is an important benefit category and can be estimatedusingaprobabilistic natural disaster risk assessmentusingavarietyof scenarios,asourcasestudyoffloodriskinHoChiMinhCityillustrated.Moreover, thecasestudyfor theNetherlandsshowedthatasocietalcost-benefitanalysiscan also include important intangiblewelfare effects, like the prevented loss of life and increased feelings of safety fromflood protection.Moreover, multi-criteria analysis can be used for evaluations of riskmanagement strategieswith effects that arechallenging toexpress inmonetary terms. • Inaddition topublicnaturaldisasterprotectionmeasures it is increasingly recog- nised thatmeasures taken at the individual scale can be important complements in limiting the impacts of natural disasters.However, fewempirical studies have examinedthedamagesavingsthat thesemeasurescanachieveandtheireconomic efficiency.Our case studies forGermany illustrated that in the case of flood, the implementationof household levelmeasures haveprevented significant amounts of damage during flood events. Several low-cost measures exist that are cost- effective inflood-proneregions.Moreover,ourcasestudyofpoorcommunities in Mexicoshowedthat several lowcost-optionsareavailable forhouseholds tocope with frequent severefloodevents, andhowthe implementationof suchoptions is enhancedbycommunity level actions, like raising riskawareness.