Financing Mechanisms for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Built Environment

The United Nations' Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 estimates that, in the decade from 2005-2015, economic losses from disasters totalled more than $1,3 trillion. Whereas some progress appears to have been made in reducing mortality from disaster events in recent years, the economic consequences of disasters have significantly risen. A number of factors contribute to this: the increasing concentration of people and assets in cities, the tendency for cities to be situated in lowlying coastal areas and on the banks of major rivers, the extension of supply networks and the increased dependence on all kinds of networks which mass urbanization entails. Climate change predictions also suggest that both vulnerabilities of populations and the severity of disaster events are set to increase. The collapse or failure of buildings and infrastructure is often the mechanism by which disasters occur and the economic losses incurred are directly associated with the extent of damage to the built environment. Much can be done by built environment professionals to improve disaster resilience through the incorporation of disaster risk reduction measures in urban planning, in the design and construction of buildings and infrastructure, in responding to disasters and in reconstruction after disasters. These all call for additional investment in the built environment and, although the current magnitude of disaster-related losses suggests that such investments in mitigation would be worthwhile, there appears to be a lack of suitable financing mechanisms available to enable them. This paper reports the results of a desktop study into financing mechanisms for disaster risk reduction investments in the built environment. The aim of this initial study is to define and understand financing mechanisms and their applicability to potential investors and their specific contexts. A Facet Theory approach to defining and understanding the problem domain is adopted and the paper elaborates a mapping sentence that describes the ranges of financing mechanisms, investors and disaster contexts that need to be taken into consideration as a first step to gain a comprehensive understanding of financing mechanisms and their applicability.