Natural hazards have always been a threat to people, asset values and infrastructure in many places. The existing risk is further exacerbated by the increase in infrastructure values and expansion of settlements in hazardous areas and by the impacts of the climate change.
Fields of action and the Confederation’s goals
The lessons and insights from the events of the last decades form the basis for the current laws and natural hazards formulated by the National Platform for Natural Hazards PLANAT “Natural Hazards Switzerland Strategy”. Core areas such as “strategic controlling” and “monitoring of development” for the periodic determination of costs, risks and losses already explicitly take adaptation to climate change into account and form the basis for the future shift in priorities.
The additional challenges resulting from climate change can therefore be overcome through the consistent implementation
of the PLANAT strategy and integrated risk management. The overall objectives of the strategy are also relevant to the action areas for adaptation to climate change and can be summarised as follows:
- A generally accepted level of security in accordance with uniform criteria is guaranteed.
- Existing risks are decreased, and the emergence of new risks is avoided.
- The means for the optimal reduction of existing risks and the avoidance of new risks are used efficiently.
As the flood events of 2005 and 2007 and their analyses show, prevention, intervention and increasing the self-protection capacity of the population (resilience) offer great potential for improving the management of residual risks:
- Promotion and support of self-responsibility (training of clients, sensitization of the population).
- Promotion and support of architects, planners, etc. (training on property protection measures and safety standards).
- Promotion of organizational measures (emergency planning and emergency concepts including warning and alerting) as well as optimization of intervention to deal with residual risks.
Further informations
Last modification 28.04.2016
Contact
Federal Office for the Environment FOEN
Reporting and Adaptation Section
Papiermühlestr. 172
3063 Ittigen
