Climate Changes, Construction and Insurance
Climate on the Earth is changing, though scientists have not reached common ground if we have to expect global warming or this current increase of average annual temperatures – only temporary deviation from means of perennial observations. In any way, we must be ready to such changes, moreover, when they happen before our eyes. Doctor Peter Muller, Director of Moscow representative office of Munich Re Grop, General Representative in CIS countries, shared us how to decrease risks while constructing buildings and cities in the given conditions.
Mr. Muller, how can global climate change influence such a sphere of human agency as construction?
Today climate change already influences greatly the construction sphere. On the one hand, it happens because buildings primarily are intended for protection of a human being from bad weather, natural disasters and other risks. This equally relates both to an early man site or a modern high-rise building. In Europe this issue provokes a lot of discussions in the course of which relevant political, economic and scientific initiatives are advanced. On the other hand, in the very construction activities are also incorporated one of the causes of climate change. This branch is one of the biggest energy consumers and, therefore, a factor of environmental pollution. This relates particularly to manufacture of cement – a big source of emission of СО2 into the atmosphere. Construction is also responsible for the closure of topsoil, etc
Are experts still arguing if it is going to be warmer or colder on the Earth?
With high probability we can talk about the tendency to global warming. This opinion is shared by the majority of experts. The debate is about the duration, effects and possible scenarios of warming. But what we can say with confidence, it’s about having the following features, which now beset climate change – natural phenomena become more extreme and intense, they occur more and more often and do not have any explicit reference to the time of year or a specific of particular locality. So, they can happen there where earlier similar phenomena have not been seen and in an unusual time of the year. These facts are also stated in opinion letters of IPCC in a specially prepared report “Risk management of extreme phenomena and disasters for the purpose of adaptation to climate changes”. That is why terms for their prevention become shorter and reaction and protective measures more complicated. In some cases both people and state are not ready well enough to extreme phenomena, as they do not have necessary experience and appropriate hardware tools. It mostly affects big cities as the places of high habitancy. Sometimes we even can hear an opinion that real climate changes happen especially in cities.
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Conversed by Anna Goldman