Charity hazard—A real hazard to natural disaster insurance?

After the flooding in 2002 European governments provided billions of Euros of financial assistance to their citizens. Although there is no doubt that solidarity and some sort of assistance are reasonable, the question arises why these damages were not sufficiently insured. One explanation why individuals reject to obtain insurance cover against natural hazards is that they anticipate governmental and private aid. This problem became to be known as “charity hazard”. The present paper gives an economic analysis of the institutional arrangements on the market for natural disaster insurances focusing on imperfections caused by governmental financial relief. It provides a theoretical explanation why charity hazard is a problem on the market for natural disaster insurances, in the way that it acts as an obstacle for the proper diffusion and therefore the establishment of natural hazard insurances. This paper provides a review of the scientific discussion on charity hazard, provides a theoretical analysis and points out the existing empirical problems regarding this issue.     

Jellyfish jelly press and jelly perception

Since the early 2000’s, invasions and blooms of jellyfish have been increasingly reported in scientific literature as well as in the general media. Despite this increased coverage, the global jellification issue remains unsolved due to the scarcity of extended time series. The aim of this study was to determine to what extent the main messages about jellyfish (increase, causes, threats, solutions, etc.) in the Flemish (Belgian Dutch-language) media correspond with the knowledge and perception of recreational users, tourism-related professionals and local government officials on the Belgian coast. The number of articles in the Flemish media (140) increased from <5 in 2000 to 27 in 2010, with half of them reporting on jellyfish in the Belgian Part of the North Sea. Almost 75 % of these articles reported on the causes (overfishing being mentioned as the main cause) and economic consequences of jellyfish blooms. Articles about the dramatic consequences of stinging, poisonous and non-indigenous species were also common. A questionnaire-based survey carried out on the Belgian coast in summer 2012 indicated that jelly perception is only partly driven by the general media, while personal experience seemed at least equally important as driver. Information on causes, threats, consequences and solutions for problems caused by jellyfish corresponded to a large extent with the answers given by recreational users and tourism-related professionals. Respondents generally agreed that all underlying causes of a potential jellification problem should be addressed and tackled at an international level. With keywords like “pain”, “smell” and “slime” used to describe jellyfish, they have little sympathy from most actors, and most recreational users of beaches and coastal waters are extremely careful with any type of jellyfish, especially when children are involved. Species-specific knowledge (names, ecology, stinging vs. harmless species) presented in the media is not assimilated by most recreational users or local officials, except for divers, who have a very different perception of jellyfish than most recreational users. This lack of knowledge appeared to be a key issue in perception among recreational users. As public perception is a key driver in policy decisions, integrated coastal zone management and measures should provide good and easily understandable information, for example by distributing leaflets and putting up warning signs on the beach. This will result in a better understanding and acceptance of jellyfish as well as generating high-quality data from citizen science programs. Better and more information on jellyfish will thus benefit all the actors and sectors potentially affected by jellification.     

An efficient and simple method for measuring (226)Ra using the scintillation cell in a delayed coincidence counting system (RaDeCC)

A delayed coincidence counter (RaDeCC), developed to determine ultra-low levels of (223)Ra (half life = 11.1 days) and (224)Ra (half life = 3.6 days) in seawater, was adapted to measure (226)Ra (half life = 1622 years). After pre-concentration of Ra from seawater onto MnO(2)-coated fiber we show in this study that the (226)Ra activity can be determined using the RaDeCC's ability to record alpha decay of its daughters as total counts. For sufficient ingrowth of (222)Rn, the Mn-fiber is hermetically sealed in a column for a few days. Then, the ingrown (222)Rn is circulated through the RaDeCC air-loop system followed by shutting down of the pump and closure of the scintillation cell for equilibration. Counting may be completed within a few hours for seawater samples. Sample measurements with this method agreed well with data obtained using gamma-ray spectrometry. This proves that a set of Ra isotopes ((223)Ra, (224)Ra, and (226)Ra), commonly used for geophysical studies such as mixing rates of different water masses and submarine groundwater discharge, can be efficiently and rapidly measured using the RaDeCC.     

Legitimate adaptive flood risk governance beyond the dikes: the cases of Hamburg,Helsinki and Rotterdam

It has recently been recommended that a shift from traditional flood prevention to more adaptive strategies is made, focusing on the reduction in and recovery from flood impacts as a means to improve resilience to climate impacts. This shift has had implications for the public–private divide in adaptive flood risk governance. In an urban context, it means that private actors such as developers and residents come into play, necessitating governance arrangements which cross the public–private divide. The division of responsibilities for water safety between the public and private sectors affects the way legitimacy is gained for these arrangements and raises new legitimacy issues. The paper offers an analysis of public and private responsibilities in adaptive flood risk governance arrangements, as well as of the legitimacy of the arrangements in the light of the public–private divide. A comparative case study is presented for three urban regeneration projects in un-embanked areas in Hamburg, Germany, Helsinki, Finland, and Rotterdam, the Netherlands, where adaptive strategies have been applied. The results show that network arrangements with joint public–private responsibilities use direct forms of participation and deliberation, but that these do not necessarily lead to more legitimate arrangements in the eyes of stakeholders as is often suggested in the literature. Both network and more public hierarchical arrangements can be perceived as quite legitimate under certain conditions.     

The Belgian Coastal Atlas: moving from the classic static atlas to an interactive data-driven atlas

The Belgian Coastal Atlas was first published in hardback in 2004, with no intention to move towards a web version. The many requests for maps encouraged the developers to launch a web-based atlas in 2005. The interactive-nature of the maps was kept simple and the look of the maps was considered more important than the possibilities that GIS applications offered. Three years on, the Coordination Centre on ICZM would like to move from the more or less static web atlas to an interactive data-driven atlas, where sustainability indicators for the coast play a prominent role. The final product will be a policy supporting tool that will back the ICZM process for a wide range of coastal actors, planners and managers.     

Prepared for climate change? A method for the ex-ante assessment of formal responsibilities for climate adaptation in specific sectors

Climate change-related risks encompass an intensification of extreme weather events, such as fluvial and pluvial flooding, droughts, storms, and heat stress. A transparent and comprehensive division of responsibilities is a necessary—but not the only—precondition for being prepared for climate change. In this paper, we present, and preliminarily test, a method for the ex-ante assessment of the division of public and private responsibilities for climate adaptation in terms of comprehensiveness, transparency, legitimacy, and effectiveness. This method proofs particularly suited for the assessment of adaptation responsibilities in combination with a sectoral approach. It helps identifying a number of shortcomings in divisions of responsibilities for climate adaptation. We conclude that this method is useful as a diagnostic tool for identifying the expected climate change preparedness level, and recommend to combine this with ex-post analyses of real-life cases of extreme events in order to assess the actual preparedness for climate change. Besides the scientific purpose of providing a generally applicable assessment method, with this method, we also intend to assist policy-makers in developing and implementing adaptation plans at various levels.     

Reducing the complexity of the flood vulnerability index

After the flooding in 2002 European governments provided billions of Euros of financial assistance to their citizens. Although there is no doubt that solidarity and some sort of assistance are reasonable, the question arises why these damages were not sufficiently insured. One explanation why individuals reject to obtain insurance cover against natural hazards is that they anticipate governmental and private aid. This problem became to be known as “charity hazard”. The present paper gives an economic analysis of the institutional arrangements on the market for natural disaster insurances focusing on imperfections caused by governmental financial relief. It provides a theoretical explanation why charity hazard is a problem on the market for natural disaster insurances, in the way that it acts as an obstacle for the proper diffusion and therefore the establishment of natural hazard insurances. This paper provides a review of the scientific discussion on charity hazard, provides a theoretical analysis and points out the existing empirical problems regarding this issue.     

Conditions for citizen co-production in a resilient,efficient and legitimate flood risk governance arrangement. A tentative framework

Across Europe, there is an increasing trend towards citizen involvement in the implementation of flood risk governance. Policy-makers increasingly advocate co-produced flood risk governance (FRG), whereby citizens are actively engaged in the implementation of flood risk policy, for example, by taking property-level protection measures. In doing so, they aim to make FRG more resilient, efficient and legitimate [Mees, H., Crabbé, A., Alexander, M., Kaufmann, M., Bruzzone, L., Levy, L., & Lewandowski, J. (2016a). Coproducing flood risk management through citizen involvement: Insights from cross-country comparison in Europe. Ecology and Society, 21(3), 7. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-08500-210307]. Co-production, however, also raises important questions concerning these aims. In this paper, the opportunities and limitations of and barriers to citizen co-production in FRG in terms of resilience, efficiency and legitimacy are investigated by an extensive review of literature on citizen co-production in other public services and on individual and community-based climate change adaptation and FRG. Based on this, a tentative framework is developed on the required conditions to enable co-produced FRG, which benefits both the resilience, efficiency and legitimacy of FRG.     

Changes in the ratio of the sulcus acusticus area to the sagitta area of Pomatoschistus minutus and P. lozanoi (Pisces,Gobiidae)

The Pomatoschistus minutus (Pallas) and P. lozanoi (de Buen) stock of the ebb-tidal delta of the former Grevelingen estuary was sampled monthly from September 1992 to October 1993. Sagittae were extracted and the areas of the sagitta and sulcus acusticus were measured with a digitizer. The frequency response and auditory threshold of these two sympatric goby species were determined from the ratio of the sulcus acusticus area to the sagitta area (S:O ratio). The S:O ratio of P. minutus increased while in P. lozanoi the S:O ratio was constant with increasing standard length. The average S:O ratio of P. lozanoi was significantly higher than that of P. minutus of the same mean length, which makes the former more sensitive to sound frequency. The S:O ratios of these two sympatric fishes were lower than the S:O ratios of demersal and pelagic fishes available from the literature. An interspecific growth difference of sagitta and sulcus acusticus was observed. The sagitta and sulcus acusticus of P. minutus are larger than those of P. lozanoi of the same length.