Coalition looks to natural disaster barriers
A group of strange bedfellows, including insurers and environmental groups, is teaming up to quantify and demonstrate the role that natural infrastructure such as coastal wetlands and mangrove swamps can play in mitigating property losses from hurricanes and flooding events.
The research is still in its early stages, but these groups hope it will spur increased and upfront investments in natural infrastructure to protect coastal communities — a key source and driver of economic activity in the United States.
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An ongoing effort to study the impact of natural storm defenses drew together an unusual coalition of insurance industry players, risk modeling experts, environmental groups and academics. The University of California, Santa Cruz, The Nature Conservancy and the Wildlife Conservation Society conducted a research project to quantify the economic benefits of coastal wetlands, in association with Risk Management Solutions Inc. and Guy Carpenter & Co. L.L.C., with funding from the charity Lloyd’s Tercentenary Research Foundation and additional support from the Science for Nature and People Partnership.