Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Commentary
  • Published:

Managing unnatural disaster risk from climate extremes

Truly understanding climate-related disaster risk, and the management of that risk, can inform effective action on climate adaptation and the loss and damage mechanism, the main vehicle under the UN Climate Convention for dealing with climate-related effects, including residual impacts after adaptation.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2: Calculating fiscal stress from climate-related risk.

References

  1. UNFCCC Decision CP.19 (UNFCCC, 2013).

  2. IPCC Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (eds Field, C. B. et al.) (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2012).

  3. Stern, P. et al. Nature Clim. Change 3, 607–609 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Huggel, C. et al. Nature Clim. Change 3, 694–696 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Swart, R. et al. Nature Clim. Change 3, 942–943 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Verheyen, R. Tackling Loss & Damage –A New Role for the Climate Regime? (Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2012).

    Google Scholar 

  7. IPCC Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis (eds Stocker, T. et al.) (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2013).

  8. Bouwer, L. M. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 92, 39–46 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Stone, J. J. Risk Insur. 40, 231–243 (1973).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Linnerooth-Bayer, J. & Hochrainer-Stigler, S. Climatic Change http://doi.org/rn7 (2014).

  11. Dow. K. et al. Nature Clim. Change 3, 305–307 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Foresight: Reducing Risks of Future Disasters (UK Government Office of Science, 2012).

  13. Report on the Fifth Quantitative Impact Study (QIS5) for Solvency II (European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, 2011).

  14. Mechler, R. et al. Assessing the Financial Vulnerability to Climate-Related Natural Hazards — World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 5232 (World Bank, 2010).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Kellett, J. & Caravani, A. Financing Disaster Risk Reduction (GFDRR and ODI, 2013).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Linnerooth-Bayer, J. et al. The Geneva Papers 34, 381–400 (2009).

    Google Scholar 

  17. Ward, P. J. et al. Nat. Hazards 56, 899–916 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Aerts, J. C. J. H. & Botzen, W. J. Nature Clim. Change 2, 377 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Phelan, L, Henderson-Sellers, A. & Taplin, R. in The Economic, Social and Political Elements of Climate Change (ed. Filho, W. L.) 81–98 (Springer, 2011).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  20. Hochrainer, S., Mechler, R., Pflug, G. & Williges, K. Glob. Environ. Change (in the press).

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge support provided through the research projects ENHANCE (Enhancing risk management partnerships for catastrophic natural disasters in Europe) and IMPACT2C (Quantifying projected impacts under 2 °C warming), funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme — Grant agreement numbers 308438 and 282746.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Reinhard Mechler.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Mechler, R., Bouwer, L., Linnerooth-Bayer, J. et al. Managing unnatural disaster risk from climate extremes. Nature Clim Change 4, 235–237 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2137

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2137

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing