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Indicator Specification
Economic losses from weather- and climate-related disasters have increased, but with large spatial and interannual variability. Global weather- and climate-related disaster losses reported over the last few decades reflect mainly monetised direct damages to assets, and are unequally distributed. Loss estimates are lower-bound estimates because many impacts, such as loss of human lives, cultural heritage and ecosystems services, are difficult to value and monetise, and thus they are poorly reflected in estimates of losses. Economic, including insured, disaster losses associated with weather, climate and geophysical events are higher in developed countries. Fatality rates and economic losses expressed as a proportion of GDP are higher in developing countries.
Europe is experiencing an increasing number of hydro-meteorological, geophysical and technological disasters that are caused by a combination of changes in its physical, technological and human/social systems. The potential for a hazard to cause a disaster mainly depends on how vulnerable an exposed community is to such hazards. Actions and measures, if well implemented, can reduce the human health and economic impact of a hazardous event. In recent years, policies for disaster risk reduction and management have shifted to a comprehensive, integrated risk approach. The full disaster cycle — prevention, preparedness, response and recovery — should be taken into consideration. Adaptation to climate change and disaster risk management provide a range of complementary approaches for managing the risks of climate extremes and disasters.
In April 2013 the European Commission presented the EU Adaptation Strategy Package (http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/adaptation/what/documentation_en.htm). This package consists of the EU Strategy on adaptation to climate change /* COM/2013/0216 final */ and a number of supporting documents. One of the objectives of the EU Adaptation Strategy is Better informed decision-making, which should occur through Bridging the knowledge gap and Further developing Climate-ADAPT as the ‘one-stop shop’ for adaptation information in Europe. Further objectives include Promoting action by Member States and Climate-proofing EU action: promoting adaptation in key vulnerable sectors. Many EU Member States have already taken action, such as by adopting national adaptation strategies, and several have also prepared action plans on climate change adaptation.
The European Commission and the European Environment Agency have developed the European Climate Adaptation Platform (Climate-ADAPT, http://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/) to share knowledge on observed and projected climate change and its impacts on environmental and social systems and on human health; on relevant research; on EU, national and subnational adaptation strategies and plans; and on adaptation case studies.
No targets have been specified.
Data is taken from the Munich Re NatCatSERVICE. Definition loss events: Events can occur in several countries; events are counted countrywise.
Not applicable
Not applicable
Information for Europe can be extracted from two global disaster databases, namely the EM-DAT database maintained by CRED ([1]) that places a particular focus on human fatalities and displaced and affected people, and the NatCatSERVICE database maintained by Munich Re that provides data on insured and overall losses. The ‘disaster thresholds’ for an event to be included in these global databases are as follows:
Over recent years these global databases have been harmonised, although some differences remain. During the past decades both databases have improved their reporting which means that caution is needed in formulating conclusions about trends. In addition, both databases are less suitable for analysing the impacts of smaller events or for analyses at the sub-national level. However, despite these considerations both databases serve as a good starting point for getting an overview of the impact and damage costs of disasters in Europe.
Further information on uncertainties is provided in Section 1.7 of the EEA report on Climate change, impacts, and vulnerability in Europe 2012 (http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/climate-impacts-and-vulnerability-2012/)
[1] See http://www.emdat.be/ online.
No uncertainty has been specified
Work specified here requires to be completed within 1 year from now.
Work specified here will require more than 1 year (from now) to be completed.
For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/direct-losses-from-weather-disasters-1 or scan the QR code.
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