Closing the flood protection gap in vulnerable countries will require “massive investments” and new approaches from policymakers and re/insurers, a new report by the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance has concluded.
The report highlights the urgent need to mitigate the effects of climate change for those most at risk of devastating flooding, as well as implementing adaptation efforts to prevent and manage avoidable losses.
Additionally, comprehensive social protection programs need to be created or strengthened in at-risk areas, the Alliance said, with insurance schemes utilised in some cases.
The Alliance is a multi-sectoral partnership that aims to build community flood resilience in both developed and developing countries. All members of the Alliance, with the exception of Zurich Insurance Company, are funded by the Z Zurich Foundation.
Its comments come ahead of the first meeting of the UNFCCC’s Transitional Committee later this month, when members of the international community will look to establish new funding arrangements to assist vulnerable developing countries with the adverse effects of climate change.
“Due to the short timeframe and urgency of the issue, it is paramount that the negotiators and other climate stakeholders have a clear and comprehensive grasp of Loss and Damage, including how it relates to adaptation and mitigation, in order to identify the boundaries and scope for the fund,” the Alliance stressed.
“Global failures to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis are causing massive losses and costly damages to the lives, livelihoods, and futures of communities around the world,” it wrote.
“Efforts to address resultant losses and damages are equally inadequate and the impacts of climate change are therefore mostly borne by affected communities themselves. Local governments and humanitarian actors, which attempt to provide relief to these communities, are already overstretched and underfunded.”
“When considering actions to assist vulnerable communities affected by the impacts of climate change, we need to consider the full spectrum of averting, minimizing, and addressing losses and damages.”
Research conducted by the Alliance has concluded that adaptation costs in vulnerable areas are frequently being borne by individuals and households under current systems, while information to fully assess adaptation measures is also often lacking.
Risk transfer measures, including insurance, are similarly limited by financial, technical, and political factors, leading to low uptake, it says, and there is little or no remedy or rehabilitation mechanisms for losses and damages in place.
Accordingly, the Alliance recommends that systems need to be strengthened at all levels so that increased funding can be delivered effectively, in a way that is holistic and meets the needs of the most vulnerable people.
But delivering this level of investment will require better data on the scope of risks and impacts, it says, as well as on the effectiveness of the policies and programmes designed to minimize and address them.
The report further stresses that global and national funds should finance the expansion of measures to address losses and damages that have already proven to be effective, are locally led and meet the specific needs of the communities they support.
