Isabel Seifert-DähnnNorwegian Institute for Water Research | NIVA · Section "Water and society"
Isabel Seifert-Dähnn
PhD
About
42
Publications
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1,443
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Citations since 2017
Introduction
Skills and Expertise
Additional affiliations
May 2009 - present
January 2006 - February 2009
Position
- Researcher
Description
- flood loss modelling
Publications
Publications (42)
The world is currently facing a biodiversity and climate crisis which are globally interlinked. Nature-based solutions (NBS), defined as “actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural and modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously benefiting people and
nature” is part of the solutio...
Cities are highly complex, inter-connected social-ecological systems, encompassing social, built and natural/semi-natural components. They interact with their surrounding extra-urban areas at varying scales, from peri-urban and rural to global. Space is a valuable commodity in cities. However, in most instances, city planners tend to think about in...
Cities are challenged by climate change impacts, such as extreme rainfall events that affect conventional urban water management systems via increased sewage water overflows resulting in water quality deterioration and urban floods causing infrastructure damage. Investments in blue–green infrastructure (BGI) are increasingly considered to address t...
With the changing climate, more extreme precipitation events are expected in Norway, and thus good stormwater management becomes more and more important. The Norwegian White Paper on stormwater in cities and towns 1 proposes introduction of a stormwater fee to finance stormwater management. Today, stormwater, regardless of its degree of pollution,...
A stormwater fee for Oslo? A computational approach to user financed climate readiness.
Stormwater fee systems constitute a potential policy instrument for user financed climate
readiness in Norwegian cities. Stormwater fees can contribute to operation and future maintenance requirements of stormwater networks and wastewater treatment required wit...
Freshwater lakes are dynamic ecosystems and provide multiple ecosystem services to humans. Sudden changes in lake environmental conditions such as cyanobacterial blooms can negatively impact lake usage. Automated high-frequency monitoring (AHFM) systems allow the detection of short-lived extreme and unpredictable events and enable lake managers to...
Nature-based solutions (NbS) provide direct benefits to people who live in areas where these approaches are present. The degree of direct benefits (thermal comfort, reduced flood risk, and mental health) varies across temporal and spatial scales, and it can be modelled and quantified. Less clear are the indirect benefits related to opportunities to...
A need for multi-functional assessment tools evaluating trade-offs and co-benefits for various types of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) has been increasingly identified in recent years. Methodologically, concepts for a tool are presented which include quantifying the demand and potential for NBS to enhance ecosystem service (ES) provision, and linking...
The existence of sufficient demand for insurance
coverage against infrequent losses is important for the adequate
function of insurance markets for natural disaster risks.
This study investigates how characteristics of flood risk influence
household flood insurance demand based on household
surveys undertaken in Germany and the Netherlands.
Our ana...
Background: Modern water management strategies aim to assess the impact of water regulation alternatives on all relevant ecosystem services, including white water (WW) recreation. Therefore it is important to estimate the optimum kayak flow range for river reaches that are potentially relevant for WW kayaking. Methods: We used the grade V run of th...
Insurance can be an important mechanism to stimulate flood risk reduction and
thus decrease losses. However, there is a gap between the theoretical
potential described by academic scholars and the actual engagement of
insurers. In the analysis, I have collected examples of insurers' engagement
in flood risk reduction, focusing on household and busi...
More frequent episodes of strong rainfall combined with densely built urban environments will lead to greater surface water runoff in the future viz. more stormwater. Open blue-green stormwater solutions, for example, reopened urban streams, have become very popular, but these compete with other user interests for scarce urban space. Thus, the way...
The majority of people in rural villages in Maharashtra, India, have access to improved drinking water sources. Nevertheless, the water quality at the point of consumption often does not satisfy the drinking water standard. In this study, we assess changes in water quality from its source to the point of consumption and explore the ties between wat...
Natural hazard insurance is suggested an important mechanism to boost climate change adaptation and especially flood risk prevention at individual level and thus decrease losses caused by weather-related disasters. But there is a gap between the theoretical potential described by academic scholars and the actual engagement of insurers. In this pape...
CIENS Urban Conference 2016: Smart and Green Cities – For Whom?; Oslo, Norway, 13 October 2016
Management decisions must be taken despite large knowledge gaps regarding the impacts of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems. This report presents a framework for economic assessment and valuation of ocean acidification and its effects, illustrating how management can be informed by knowledge about ecosystem services and associated values. Thi...
This paper briefly reviews challenges and shortcomings in implementation of the ecosystem service (ES) approach in water management and indicates possibilities to overcome these. This was the subject of a European workshop held in November 2014 in Oslo, Norway. Biophysical modelling of ES including trade-offs and off-site effects, consideration of...
The extremely arid Tarim Basin in northwest-ern China is an important cotton and fruit production region. However, extensive agricultural land reclamation combined with unreasonable water use in recent decades resulted in degradation of ecosystems along the Tarim River. With declining water availability, it is becoming increasingly important to uti...
The existence of sufficient demand for insurance coverage against
infrequent losses is important for the adequate function of insurance
markets for natural disaster risks. This study investigates how
characteristics of flood risk influence household flood insurance demand
based on household surveys undertaken in Germany and the Netherlands.
Our ana...
The estimation of flood damage is an important component for
risk-oriented flood design, risk mapping, financial appraisals and
comparative risk analyses. However, research on flood-loss modelling,
especially in the commercial sector, has not gained much attention so
far. The estimation of flood loss is a challenge, especially in the
commercial sec...
The estimation of flood damage is an important component for risk-oriented flood design, risk mapping, financial appraisals and comparative risk analyses. However, research on flood-loss modelling, especially in the commercial sector, has not gained much attention so far. Therefore, extensive data about flood losses were collected for affected comp...
The estimation of flood loss is difficult, especially in the commercial sector, because of its great inhomogeneity. However, the reliability of loss modelling is fairly unknown, since flood-loss models are scarcely validated. The newly developed Flood Loss Estimation MOdel for the commercial sector (FLEMOcs) was validated on the micro-scale using a...
Using the focusing event framework, a comprehensive analysis of private households’ and businesses’ preparedness was undertaken
in the aftermath of the 2002 and 2006 flood events on the Elbe River in Germany. In August 2002, preparedness of households
(n=235) and businesses (n=103) was low: 30% of the households and 54% of the businesses took no pr...
Dieses Kapitel befasst sich mit der Organisation von Schadenserfassungen, der Aufbereitung und Bereitstellung von Hochwasserschadensdaten sowie mit der Aggregation von Schadendaten zu Gesamtschadensbilanzen.
For the purpose of flood damage analyses reliable, comparable, comprehensive, consistent, and up-to-date data are an indispensable need. Like in many other countries a database with this kind of datasets does not exist in Germany. To establish it, standards have to be set for flood damage data collection. We approached this problem by questioning e...
Flow velocity is generally presumed to influence flood damage. However, this influence is hardly quantified and virtually no damage models take it into account. Therefore, the influences of flow velocity, water depth and combinations of these two impact parameters on various types of flood damage were investigated in five communities affected by th...
Trotz der hohen Anzahl an Hochwasserschadensfällen in den letzten Jahren stehen relativ wenige Daten für eine detaillierte Analyse von Schadensprozessen zur Verfügung. Solche Analysen sind für die Validierung und Weiterentwicklung von Schadensmodellen jedoch unerlässlich. Um die Datenlage in Deutschland langfristig zu verbessern, werden in diesem B...
Despite the high number of flood-damage events in recent years, there are comparatively few data available for detailed analyses of damage-inducing processes. Such analyses, however, are needed for the validation and updating of damage (or loss) models. In order to improve the data base in Germany in the long run, suggestions for the standardised c...
For risk analyses not only knowledge about the impact of different types of hazards, but also information about the elements
and values at risk is necessary. This article introduces a methodology for a countrywide estimation of asset values for commercial
and industrial properties using Germany as an example. It consists of a financial appraisal of...
During August 2002 and again in April 2006 the Elbe catchment was hit by
floods. The flood in 2002 was an extreme event, e.g. with a return period of 150
years at the Dresden gauge. In comparison, the 2006 flood had only a return
period of about 15 years at Dresden. This special situation enables a comparison
of the preparedness of companies in the...
The estimation of economic flood losses is a crucial part when decisions about flood defense are taken on the basis of cost-benefit-analyses. However, the field of flood loss modeling has notgained much attention so far. Therefore, improved and scientifically sound loss models are a fundamental step towards a cost-effective flood management. In the...
When natural disasters and extreme events such as storms, floods and earthquakes occur, it is not only people, residential buildings and infrastructure that are seriously affected, but also industry. Direct losses to installations as well as indirect losses, e.g., the interruption of production, can cause severe damage to companies and the economy...
One important prerequisite for a comparable quantitative risk assessment for different types of hazards (e.g., earthquakes, windstorms and floods) is the use of a common database about and financial appraisal of the assets at risk. For damage assessments it is necessary to represent the values at risk on a regional disaggregated scale and to inters...
In risk analysis there is a spatial mismatch of hazard data that are commonly modelled on an explicit raster level and exposure data that are often only available for aggregated units, e.g. communities. Dasymetric mapping techniques that use ancillary information to disaggregate data within a spatial unit help to bridge this gap. This paper present...
In einer empirischen Studie wurden über 250 Unternehmen in Baden-Württemberg zu ihrer aktuellen Hochwassergefährdung, Hochwassererfahrungen in der Vergangenheit, den durchgeführten Schutzmaßnahmen, Kooperationen mit anderen Akteuren des Hochwasserschutzes und der Einbindung des Risikos Hochwasser in das Risikomanagement auf Betriebs- und Unternehme...
Projects
Projects (8)
Nature-based solutions (NbS) are often highlighted as a cost-effective way to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. NbS can both contribute to climate adaptation and act as mitigation measures, strengthen biodiversity and deliver ecosystem services for the benefit of humans. S-UMMATION will summarize and share experiences, knowledge, barriers and advice from NbS pilot projects in the Nordic region. This will include the compilation of the NCMfunded national pilot projects on NbS, gathering new knowledge and experience on the effective implementation of these NbS and the development of future projects on the topic. The S-UMMATION report will share these findings and provide advice for efficient implementation of NbS to a wider society. The final report will also include (1) a report on measures to track and evaluate the impact of NbS, including proposed indicators and ways to monitor the outcome of the NbS pilot projects and a brief literature review of existing indicators and monitoring methods, and (2) a report on the comparison with the IUCN Global Standards for NbS, focusing on the measures and criteria included in NbS pilot projects. The final report will also summarize the knowledge they have contributed and what new questions these pilot projects have raised.
SPARE focuses on the currently insufficient integration of stormwater, biodiversity and recreation aspects in urban areas and how to overcome those by better management and increased adoption of BGI. The main objective of SPARE is to provide knowledge, develop tools and test management approaches for a stronger inclusion of stormwater, biodiversity and recreation in urban land-use management and thereby increase space for resilience.
Sub-objectives are:
SO1 Identify socio-political barriers, policy conflicts and synergies for urban land-management for increased resilience
SO2 Describe the spatio-temporal heterogeneity of BGI benefits owing mutual interactions between urban land-conditions, BGI functioning and design, and resilience demand
SO3 Develop models and tools to optimize BGI design and placement, accounting for BGI benefits and facilitate maintenance and management of BGI
SO4 Create cross-sectoral, multi-stakeholder engagement and ownership for BGI solutions by establishing novel polycentric management approaches
SO5 Make the project results useful for practice and accessible to a broad professional and nonprofessional audience.
Nature-based solutions (NbS) are highlighted by as a cost-effective way of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals. NbS can contribute to climate change mitigation and/or adaptation, strengthen biodiversity and deliver ecosystem services to humans. While there are many international reports on NbS, there is a need for an overview of NbS covering the breadth of Nordic ecosystems. The purpose of S-ITUATION is to synthesize and present existing research on NbS relevant to the Nordic context building on the IUCN Global Standard, including relevant projects and experiences, policies, knowledge gaps and cost-benefit analyses. The project will be carried out by highly experienced researchers in the field, representing research institutes in all five Nordic countries. Communication and dissemination activities, including stakeholder consultations, will be integrated throughout the project. The synthesis will facilitate knowledge-sharing and provide a basis for the development of future research projects in the Nordic Council thematic programme on NbS.
