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Press release 8 February, 2016

The Flood Re insurance scheme will fail to reduce flood risk and the number of London households eligible for the scheme could increase by up to 75% during its lifespan, according to a paper published today (PDF) (Monday 8 February) by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy at London School of Economics and Political Science.

Swenja Surminski, ENHANCE partner and Senior Research Fellow at the London School of Economics, submitted a letter to the Financial Times on the UK Flood Re insurance scheme. The letter was published on 8 February, 2016.

ENHANCE partner Swenja Surminski looks at how the insurance industry is having to adapt to cope with the challenges of possible climate change and highlights some of the problems it faces. The article was published in the Financial World, Feb/March 2016.

Jaroslav Mysiak (FEEM) presented the ENHANCE project and the MSPs concept at the Ignite Stage on 16 March 2015, on the occasion of the the 3rd UN Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan. The presentation was recorded by the United Nations.

Due to development choices and impacts of climate change, disaster risk is accumulating and economic disaster losses are rising rapidly in all parts of the world. Europe’s 10-year average of disaster losses totalling US$13.4 billion makes it the third most affected region in the world after the Americas and Asia.

By Richard Waddington

MADRID, 9 October 2014 – The recurrence of flooding, one of Europe’s most persistent natural hazards, presents both a challenge and an opportunity when it comes to disaster reduction, a conference heard on Wednesday.

Was braucht man für eine funktionierende Public-Private Partnership bei der Flutversicherung in Europa? Dieser Frage gingen kürzlich Experten aus der Versicherungswirtschaft, der Wissenschaft, der UN und der Europäischen Kommission auf einem Workshop bei der Munich Re nach. Die Veranstaltung wurde ausgerichtet vom EU-finanzierten Forschungsprojekt ENHANCE, das grenzübergreifend nach besseren Methoden für das Naturgefahren-Management sucht. Flutversicherung ist dabei einer der Schwerpunktbereiche für die Forscher.

The catastrophic forest fires of 2003 in Chamusca destroyed nearly 22,000 hectares of forest and shrub land (30% of the municipality’s total area). Four people lost their lives in the aftermath of the fires; two of them were experienced firemen.

ENHANCE Portuguese partners have been interviewed by Água & Ambiente (Water & Environment), the most important monthly publication regarding environmental affairs in Portugal.

ISA-UTL and Metacortex have given a brief outline of the project, its objectives and the case study regarding forest fires in which they are involved.

Read the original article below

ENHANCE aims at developing and analysing new ways to enhance society’s resilience to catastrophic natural hazard impacts. For this, the project will develop new multisector partnerships (MSPs) between public and private sectors, with an important role for the financial sector (e.g. insurers).