NEW YORK, Nov. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Government and
business leaders joined scientific and environmental experts today
to discuss the impact of climate change on the natural disasters
that devastate American communities at the Climate Change:
Response and Resilience Leadership Forum at Columbia University in New York City.
As the effects of climate change have intensified, dangerous
weather events have increased in frequency and severity.
The Climate Change: Response and Resilience Leadership
Forum was held as the Kincade Fire, Tick Fire and Getty Fire recently burned nearly 200,000 acres
in California. More than 600,000
California residents have recently
gone without power as a direct result of wildfires in the
state.
Communities throughout the United
States suffer from the damaging and sometimes devastating
effects of tornadoes, floods, droughts and other natural disasters.
Additionally, this is the fourth consecutive year that the Atlantic
hurricane season has delivered an above-average number of storms
and the fifth consecutive year that a storm has formed before the
official start of the season.
Sponsored by RenaissanceRe (NYSE: RNR), this forum is the
14th in a series of award-winning events aimed at
developing risk mitigation techniques to safeguard communities and
supporting efforts that reduce economic turmoil following
disasters. In conjunction with Columbia
University's Earth Institute, the Climate Change:
Response and Resilience Leadership Forum featured 30 expert
speakers who explored how policymakers and government agencies can
better protect communities facing extreme weather events.
"There is no doubt that climate change is making extreme weather
events more frequent and more severe. Communities across America
and the world are increasingly exposed to climate-related risks
including floods, hurricanes and wildfires," said Stephen Weinstein, group general counsel of
RenaissanceRe and chairman of the RenaissanceRe Risk Sciences
Foundation. "We are pleased so many thought leaders gathered to
tackle these urgent issues and improve our nation's response to
these destructive events. Through collaboration and innovation, we
can work together to enhance the physical and financial resilience
of households, businesses and governments in even the most
high-risk regions."
The Climate Change: Response and Resilience Leadership
Forum featured a keynote address and five panels that delved
into the risks, socioeconomic impacts and responses to natural
disasters.
Jared Snyder, Deputy
Commissioner for Air Resources, Climate Change & Energy at the
New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation gave the event's keynote address and
highlighted the fact that climate change is one of the biggest
threats facing our nation, even though many resist its current and
future dangers.
Other featured speakers and panelists included Ben Diamond, Florida
House of Representatives 68th District; Eric Wilson, deputy director of Land Use and
Buildings from the New York City
Mayor's Office of Resiliency; Nora
Ostrovskaya, acting senior director for Metropolitan
Transit Authority Office of Strategic Initiatives; and
Adam Sobel, professor of
Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics and of Earth &
Environmental Science at Columbia
University.
For more information about the Climate Change: Response and
Resilience Leadership Forum, visit
http://www.mitigationleadership.com/forum_info.cfm.
About RenaissanceRe
RenaissanceRe is a global provider
of reinsurance and insurance that specializes in matching
well-structured risks with efficient sources of capital. The
company provides property, casualty, and specialty reinsurance and
certain insurance solutions to customers, principally through
intermediaries. Established in 1993, RenaissanceRe has offices in
Bermuda, Ireland, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
About the RenaissanceRe Risk Sciences
Foundation
RenaissanceRe created the RenaissanceRe Risk
Sciences Foundation to support advanced scientific research in
natural catastrophes, the development of risk mitigation and
adaptive techniques to safeguard communities, efforts that reduce
the economic turmoil following disasters, and organizations that
preserve coastal and other risk-exposed habitats. The Foundation
promotes education, preparation, adaptation, and mitigation of
catastrophic risks. For more information, visit:
www.mitigationleadership.com.
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SOURCE RenaissanceRe