“Wildfire Risk Reduction – Connecting the Dots. An ARISE-US Symposium”
Wildfire risk is both growing and changing, driven by the combined impacts of expanding settlement boundaries and climate change, and exacerbated in some cases by historical forest management practices. This trend is stressing existing approaches to managing and insuring wildfire risk in several ways:
- Current methods for insuring wildfire risk do not appear to be fit for purpose, as evidenced by the growing cost and decreasing availability of coverage.
- New methods are needed for modeling, assessing and pricing risk, and on structuring and pricing insurance cover (as for example set out in The Nature Conservancy’s and Willis Towers Watson’s paper: https://www.nature.org/en-us/newsroom/ca-wildfire-resilience-insurance/.
- These methods need also to address additional risks and risk transfer from post-fire landslides and flash flooding on denuded land.
- There needs to be a clear and agreed delineation of the roles and mutual expectations of major stakeholders.
- There needs to be a shared understanding of the growing availability of data relevant to wildfire risk management, and how best to use and share this.
- A cycle needs to be established for review and improvement based on shared understanding of wildfire outcomes, both insured and uninsured.
ARISE-US is therefore hosting a web-based symposium on “Wildfire Risk Reduction – Connecting the Dots”. It will feature public and private sector experts in the field and, with active participation from the audience, will discuss solutions to these challenges. The Symposium will take place on Sept 21st, at 1-3pm Eastern time.
Who should attend?
This symposium will offer access to the latest thinking on wildfire DRR for insurers, governments, engineers and other risk managers, land/building owners, catastrophe modelers, financial services and community organizations.
The symposium will l take the form of two linked panels, and will maximize discussion and dialog, one addressing the issues and the other, potential solutions. It will then be followed by a white paper or similar outlining the key issues and points made.
Speakers Confirmared.
Confirmared speakers and panelists include:
- Keynote – Dave Jones, Formerly Insurance Commissioner, State of California
- Nidia Martinez PhD, Director, Climate Risk Analytics, Willis Towers Watson
- Molly Mowery, President, Wildfire Planning International
- Lou Gritzo, VP Research, FM Global • Ryan Bank, Global MD, Geospatial Insurance Consortium
- Mark Vessely, Principal Geotechnical Engineer, BGC Engineering Inc
- Mark Finney, US Forest Service
- Peter Williams, PhD, Chair, ARISE-US
Organizing committee The organizing committee for the Symposium consists of:
Hosam Ali (FM Global); Ryan Bank (GIC); Joyce Coffee (Climate Resilience Consulting and ARISE-US); Lou Gritzo (FM Global); Debbra Johnson (ARISE-US); Zeneca Kubota (BGC Engineering); Nidia Martinez (WTW); Paula Pagniez (WTW); Camila Tapias (SPIN Global and ARISE-US); Mark Vessely (BGC Engineering); Peter Williams (PWS and ARISE-US).