Climate researcher
Study: flood damage reduced by adaptation
1,729 floods have examined climate researchers within 70 years. A study shows how flood consequences have reduced.
Better flood protection and other adaptation measures have significantly reduced economic flood damage in Europe since 1950. This is the result of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in a study. A team of researchers examined 1,729 floods that occurred in Europe between 1950 and 2020.
Adaptation measures – including private provision, early warning systems and emergency plans – have reduced the economic damage caused by flooding since 1950 by 63 percent and the number of fatalities by 52 percent. In relation to the gross domestic product (GDP), the economic burden has decreased significantly and today only accounts for about a third of the value in the 1950s, is a result of the investigation that was published in the journal “Science Advances”.
“The vulnerability has been significantly reduced, but in the past 20 years the progress in adapting has become slower-an indication that additional efforts are necessary to prevent an increase in flood damage from climate change in the future,” said pik researcher and main author Dominik Paprotny. The scientists warn that adaptation could reach their limits if global warming continues to increase.
dpa
Source: Stern
