14.10.2020 NaDiMa Dialogue #4 | Mitigation & Management of Floods: Lessons from Iran & Germany | 27 October 2020, 10 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (CET), online

Flooding is an important form of disasters in Iran and Germany. A very recent example is the nationwide floods in Iran during winter and spring of 2018-2019. Heavy rains began in March 2019 and lasted into April 2019, flooding large parts of the county and even endangering some of its biggest dams.

According to Alisjahbana, the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the floods affected 10 million Iranians and 500,000 people were displaced of which half were children. Key public infrastructure such as education and hospital centers damaged, cutting access to schooling for 100,000 children and access to basic health care for many more. Other key infrastructure such as roads and transit routes significantly damaged. It is estimated that direct costs of flood damages was about $5 billion. A third of these costs is related to agricultural sector which is contributing to 10% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Iran and about 18% of total employment (World Bank, 2019). The main cost burden is on the poor income households and those who are living in informal settlements. For case of Iran, we observe that affected provinces by flood, drought and sand storms are among the least economically developed provinces with other socio-ethnical tensions (e.g., Sistan & Balochestan; Khuzestan and Kermanshah and Lorestan provinces). For example, in 2018, the mentioned disaster affected provinces are among the top 5 ones with respect to highest unemployment rate among 31 provinces of Iran.

Experts from Iran and Germany will present and discuss their views and research on flood management and mitigation in the fourth NaDiMa online dialogue.

Introduction:

Tim Krieger, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany

Tim Krieger is the Wilfried Guth Professor of Constitutional Political Economy and Competition Policy at Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg in Germany. Most of his research is on institutions, factor mobility (esp. migration) and/or conflict.

Moderator:

Mohammad Reza Bazargan Lari, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Mohammad Reza Bazargan Lari is an Associate Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering, East Tehran Branch of Azad University. He graduated from Shiraz University with an honors B.Sc. in Civil Engineering, followed by earning his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Azad University. He was a post-doctoral research fellow at Sultan Qaboos University (Muscat, Oman), and Ryerson University (Toronto, Canada) and worked for the York University as a research scholar.

Speakers:

Daniel Osberghaus, ZEW Mannheim, Germany

Topic of presentation: Flood Risk Mitigation and Insurance at the Household-Level: Lessons From Germany

Daniel Osberghaus studied economics at the Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg. In 2009, he joined ZEW's Research Department "Environmental and Resource Economics, Environmental Management". He is an Advanced Researcher at ZEW Mannheim. Daniel’s research in the context of flooding focusses on adaptation to flood hazards at the household level and the effects of flooding on economic behavior. For this purpose, Daniel administers a representative panel survey amongst more than 6,000 household heads in Germany. The “Eval MAP” survey focusses on climate adaptation and mitigation actions at the household level, climate change perceptions and opinions, and related issues. So far, five waves of data from 2012-2015 and 2020 are available, and one additional wave is planned for 2021. Based on this data set, Daniel has published articles on the determinants of flood adaptation measures, the effects of flood events on household adaptation, the willingness-to-pay for index-based flood insurance, and the effects of flood relief expectation on private precaution.

Arman N. Dehkordi, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Topic of presentation: The Role of NGOs in Flood Disaster Management: Lessons from the Recent Flooding in Iran

Arman Nejat Dehkordi is a faculty member from Islamic Azad University in Tehran. For about 14 years, he has been active in the fields of river engineering and flood management in different national projects such as transboundary rivers particularly Hirmand and Aras Rivers. Furthermore, he has been a member of Consultant Engineers for many years.

Documentary: Water Wails

Sudeh Dehnavi, TH Köln (University of Applied Sciences), Cologne, Germany

This part is an introduction of the role of media in awareness raising for flood.

Sudeh Dehnavi is a researcher and lecturer in the sustainable development of food and water systems. Her interdisciplinary research and educational work's core topic is Natural Resources and Agricultural Economics, Food and Water Security and Governance, and Sustainability Entrepreneurship. She is currently working at the Institute for Technology and Resources Management in Tropics and Sub-tropics (ITT), TH Köln, Germany. Among her responsibilities include scientific coordination of the IWRM MENA program, the “Water Security in Jordan- from Data to Decision” research project, Entrepreneurship educational module and the Workshop Series on Green Innovation.

Time and Place: Tuesday, 27 October 2020, 10 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (CET), online

How to join: The online Dialogue is free, but you must register to attend. Click here to register.