Synthesis conference overview

The CONHAZ Final Synthesis Conference was held for 1.5 days from 17- 18 November 2011 in Leipzig, Germany at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ.

It brought together more than 60 scientists and stakeholders, including representatives from the European Commission, insurances and consultancies, from different natural hazard communities.

The CONHAZ Synthesis Conference established a continuous dialogue between the participants across the different hazard communities and successfully achieved its objectives:

• to discuss the results of the Coordination Action projects ‘Costs of Natural Hazards- CONHAZ’
• to identify key issues and commonalities of best practices and knowledge gaps in cost assessment methods, and
• to develop common recommendations and implications for the future.

The first day (17^th November) opened with a general introduction on the coordinating institute and a depiction of the importance of the science-policy interface.

During this day, focus laid on the presentation and discussion of the CONHAZ results concerning the methods for cost assessment of four hazard types (droughts, floods, coastal hazards, and Alpine hazards) for different cost types (direct costs, business interruption, indirect costs, intangible effects, and mitigation costs).

A substantial contribution to the thriving discussion was made through a critical reflection by external co-referee speakers for each of the hazard types considered. The first day successfully concluded with an insight into the CONHAZ synthesis report.

The second day (18^th November) focused on the needs and preferences of the end-users of cost assessments. In order to achieve this, day two was organized around two thematic topics, where the participants had the lead to initiate and participate in parallel discussion groups. During these discussion sessions, the participants successfully analyzed various issues of concern related to:

• Topic I: The future of cost assessment methods for natural hazards
• Topic II: The future of integrating cost assessment in decision- making,

and presented results or recommendations with regard to the costing of natural hazards.

The conference concluded with a summary of a prioritization of these results or recommendations made by all participants, and saw an inspiring final statement by the European Commission.

All material of the CONHAZ Final Synthesis Conference- including the presentations, critical statements and discussion session results- is provided at this section of our website.

The Final Synthesis Report, which we are currently working on, will be available in the beginning of February 2012 on our website.