NATURANCE Insider Series
13 October 2025, 12 CEST
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Financial incentives can play a crucial role in promoting resilience in the building sector. This webinar, co-hosted by NATURANCE project and the European Scientific and Technical Advisory Group (E-STAG), established by the UNDRR Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, will take place on the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction. It will explore innovative approaches — from insurance mechanisms to risk-informed planning — that shift the focus from reacting to disasters to preventing them. Despite growing awareness of the urgent need to mitigate disaster risks, the economic damages caused by disasters continue to rise, while investments in disaster risk reduction (DRR) lag behind. The building sector illustrates this challenge vividly: construction and urban development often advance without integrating risk-informed standards, locking in future vulnerabilities.

Investing in resilience requires significant financial resources, which contributes to chronic under-investment. To overcome this, risk-informed incentives at both local and national levels are increasingly seen as key strategies. Such incentives not only support resilience in practice but also create opportunities for financial innovation, particularly through the integration of insurance instruments.

Recent recommendations on strengthening preparedness and recovery financing — such as ensuring predictable and inclusive funding mechanisms — underscore the importance of embedding financial perspectives into DRR strategies. Within this context, this session will explore how financial incentives can catalyze investment in resilient design, retrofitting, and risk-sensitive urban planning. Drawing from best practices, the discussion will highlight the urgent need to shift from reactive disaster response to proactive, risk-informed investments.

Speakers
Jaroslav Mysiak, Principal Scientist at the Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change (CMCC).
Christian Resch, Managing Director of the Disaster Competence Network Austria. PhD at Graz University of Technology.
Dilanthi Amaratunga, Professor of Disaster Risks and Climate Resilience at Loughborough University, UK.
Shavindiree Nissanka, Researcher specializing in financial incentives for disaster-resilient housing, with a PhD from the University of Huddersfield, UK.

The NATURANCE Insider Series will feature at least six lunch break seminars, targeting EU institutions, business leaders, investors, and risk experts — all united by one goal: building an economy that works with nature, not against it.

Organized by:

CMCC, European Scientific and Technical Advisory Group (E-STAG), Disaster Competence Network Austria (DCNA), Naturance Project, Loughborough University