Portrait
Sustainable Cities and Communities
Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Life on land
Responsible
consumption and production
Cities and Mobility
Building and Construction
Finance
Circular economy
Forest Management
Supply Chains
Agriculture and Nutrition
Governance
Sustainable Behaviour
Decarbonisation of the transport sector
Post-fossil cities
Co-evolution of business strategies and resource policies in the building industry
Ecological footprint in the housing sector
Financing clean tech
Sustainable finance
Laboratory for circular economy
Towards a sustainable circular economy
Challenges of modular water infrastructure systems
Resource efficiency in Swiss hospitals
Ecosystem services in forests
Trade‐offs in forests
Insurance value of forest ecosystems
Enhancing supply chain sustainability
Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP)
Open assessment of Swiss economy and society
Digital innovations for sustainable agriculture
Impacts of Swiss food consumption and trade
Interaction of economy and ecology in Swiss farms
Switzerland’s sustainability footprint
Sustainable Trade Relations for Diversified Food Systems
Green labour market effects
Voluntary corporate environmental initiatives
Legal framework for a resource-efficient circular economy
Nudging small and medium-sized companies
Rebound Effects of the Sharing Economy
Sustainable consumer behaviour
Extending the lifespan of mobile devices
The influence of environmental identities

Insurance value of forest ecosystems

We analysed the capacity of forest ecosystems to provide natural insurance services. As such we assessed the preferences of residents and investigated diverse institutional frameworks as well as enabling and hindering factors. The information acquired was used to develop a theoretical business model that can serve as a basis for a practical implementation of an insurance against natural hazards.

Background

Forest ecosystems provide services, such as protection against natural hazards, often free of charge. If the protective service is improved through forest management and this contributes to hazard prevention beyond current legal requirements, then forest owners render an additional natural insurance service to the endangered population. As forest owners are usually not rewarded for such services, undersupply can result, which means that the population receives less protection than is actually wanted and possible.

Aims

Our project aimed at (i) providing scientific evidence of the natural insurance capacity of ecosystems, (ii) creating a common understanding and exploring the acceptance of the natural insurance value among stakeholders, (iii) showcasing the potential and determining the value of natural insurance provided by ecosystem management, (iv) detecting the impact of contextual and institutional settings on the provisioning of insurance services, and (v) designing a business model to operationalize the insurance value of ecosystems for application in the insurance sector.

Results

Quantification of natural hazard protection

We developed and validated a simulation framework for the scenario-based quantification of natural hazard protection (and other ecosystem services) provided by mountain forests. The framework enables testing the effects of climate, management, and numerous disturbances such as wind, bark beetle, rockfall on the protective capacity of the forest. In the validation case study, residual rockfall hazard was 20-30% depending on the forest development scenario. Rock size and forest density were main factors affecting protection effectiveness.

Further, our rockfall simulations showed that deadwood piles, e.g. left in the forest after a storm event, have a substantial protective capacity compared to the pre-storm forest stand. This is a surprising result and confirms that nature-based protection solutions for gravitational hazards may further gain importance in an overall ecological and economic context.

 

Inclusion of forest protection in insurance models

Based on our choice experiment, we found that (i) there is a substantial willingness to pay (WTP) for reducing risks of natural hazards (beyond current legal requirements); (ii) no one-size-fits-all insurance approach is feasible since preferences and WTP estimates differ among respondents and regions; and (iii) if synced with forest-management and hazard-modelling components, science-based and practice-relevant solutions for the management of natural hazards can be developed.

Our theoretical insurance model demonstrated that the inclusion of forest protection as a component of insurance contracts can generate a win-win situation for both insurers and house owners. The option to combine financial and natural insurance can in turn encourage forest owners to provide such protection by forests, which is beneficial from a social welfare perspective.

Implications for research

The project expands the scientific bases for insurance services of forests and assesses their value from the population’s perspective. In this way we can enhance the awareness of human dependence on natural resources and foster their inclusion in political, economic, and individual decision-making.

Implications for practice

Our project clearly shows the potential and importance of deadwood for gravitational hazard mitigation. Forest managers may use our results as decision support when comparing the costs and benefits of different forest management strategies, which might include leaving deadwood in the forest after a disturbance event. From an insurance perspective it is important to note that natural and financial insurance services should be seen as complementary: the natural insurance provided by forests can cover the risk of events with a low damage potential and a high probability of occurrence, while the financial insurance takes over the remaining high-damage-low probability events.

Publications

Die Inwertsetzung von Klima- und Schutzleistungen der Waldwirtschaft: Einsichten aus dem Nationalen Forschungsprogramm «Nachhaltige Wirtschaft» (NFP 73)

Schulz, T. (2023) ‘Die Inwertsetzung von Klima- und Schutzleistungen der Waldwirtschaft: Einsichten aus dem Nationalen Forschungsprogramm «Nachhaltige Wirtschaft» (NFP 73)’, Berner Wald, 54(5), pp. 13–14.

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Reconstruction of four-dimensional rockfall trajectories using remote sensing and rock-based accelerometers and gyroscopes

Caviezel, A. et al. (2019) “Reconstruction of four-dimensional rockfall trajectories using remote sensing and rock-based accelerometers and gyroscopes,” Earth Surface Dynamics, 7(1), pp. 199–210. 

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Stated preference data on the insurance value of forests in Switzerland

Unterberger, C. and Olschewski, R. (2020) “Stated preference data on the insurance value of forests in Switzerland,” Data in Brief, 33, p. 106466. 

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Full-scale experiments to examine the role of deadwood in rockfall dynamics in forests

Ringenbach, A. et al. (2022) “Full-scale experiments to examine the role of deadwood in Rockfall Dynamics in forests,” Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 22(7), pp. 2433–2443. 

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The relevance of rock shape over mass—implications for rockfall hazard assessments

Caviezel, A. et al. (2021) “The relevance of rock shape over mass—implications for rockfall hazard assessments,” Nature Communications, 12(1). 

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Mitigation effects of trees on rockfall hazards: does rock shape matter?

Lu, G. et al. (2020) “Mitigation effects of trees on rockfall hazards: Does rock shape matter?,” Landslides, 18(1), pp. 59–77. 

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Three-dimensional trajectory reconstruction of induced single block rockfall experiments

Fontoura A.B. S., Rocca R., Mendoza J. (2019) “Rock mechanics for Natural Resources and infrastructure development - full papers”

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Modelling rockfall impact with scarring in compactable soils

Lu, G. et al. (2019) “Modelling rockfall impact with scarring in compactable soils,” Landslides, 16(12), pp. 2353–2367. 

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Determining the insurance value of ecosystems: A discrete choice study on natural hazard protection by forests

Unterberger, C. and Olschewski, R. (2021) “Determining the insurance value of ecosystems: A discrete choice study on natural hazard protection by forests,” Ecological Economics, 180, p. 106866.

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Forest management as an insurance against natural hazards – a case study of protection forests in Switzerland

Antkowiak, P. et al. (2020) "Forest management as an insurance against natural hazards – a case study of protection forests in Switzerland"

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Modelling deadwood for rockfall mitigation assessments in windthrow areas

Ringenbach, A. et al. (2022) “Modelling Deadwood for rockfall mitigation assessments in windthrow areas.”

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Project leaders​

Prof. Dr. Roland Olschewski
Eidg. Forschungsanstalt für Wald, Schnee und Landschaft WSL

Prof. Dr. Marc Hanewinkel
Professur für Forstökonomie und Forstplanung, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Deutschland

Dr. Perry Bartelt
WSL-Institut für Schnee- und Lawinenforschung SLF

Prof. Dr. Rasoul Yousefpour
Professur für Forstökonomie und Forstplanung, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg,​ Deutschland

Project partners​

Aller Risk Management
Bundesamt für Umwelt BAFU
econcept
Gebäudeversicherung Graubünden
Kleinn Risk Management
Schweizer Hagel

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