Indirect flood risk management in Austria: Challenges and ways forward

Reiter, K., Hochrainer-Stigler, S., Bachner, G., Knittel, N., & Poledna, S. (2022). Indirect flood risk management in Austria: Challenges and ways forward. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change, University of Graz

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Abstract

Natural disaster risks are among the greatest threats of the 21st century putting political, social and economic systems increasingly under pressure and at risk of instability (UNDRR/CRED 2020). Especially in recent years, the cascading effects and risks associated with such events have received great attention as economic losses and consequences have mounted (Handmer et al. 2020; Reichstein et al. 2021). Due to increasingly complex economic networks and interdependencies, natural disasters can result in large ripple effects including business or supply chain interruptions, changes in economic productivity or increased indebtedness. These so-called indirect losses can amount to or even exceed direct damages (Koks et al. 2015; Dottori et al. 2018).

Climate change exacerbates the intensity and frequency of flood events. Accompanied by socioeconomic changes this leads to increasing flood damages. Therefore, more holistic and long-term disaster risk management (DRM) strategies that tackle indirect effects and which take into account climate change effects are called for. To implement these strategies, we require a deeper understanding of who could be involved in indirect flood risk management (FRM), which management strategies are already implemented and which should be implemented in the future, as well as what are the corresponding implementation barriers. These issues are addressed in this fact sheet in the context of Austrian climate risk management strategies discussing how indirect risks from floods are currently considered and how they could be proactively integrated on various scales (the discussion is based on Reiter et al. 2022).

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