Purpose
     The scientific purposes of the conference are two-fold. The first is to examine the possible influence of global change phenomena, including changes in the climate, land use, population, capital movements, and infrastructure design, on the potential future losses from flood events in Europe.
     A second purpose is to examine a set of risk management issues to both mitigate flood damage and to improve the spread of the losses. A particular focus will be on flood risks in Poland. The Polish case will serve to raise problems and questions to be addressed throughout the meeting, including:

	the use of models to improve flood risk management;
	the accounting of long-term flood losses;
	structural and non-structural options for mitigation;
	resolution of upstream-downstream conflicts;
	market instruments and government interventions for flood risk management;
	the insurability of flood risks and different public/private insurance schemes;
	the potential for reinsurance and catastrophe bonds to improve flood response and reduce long-term losses.

      The conference will draw on current research at IIASA as well as at important research centers within and outside Europe. As part of the IIASA project on Risk, Modeling and Policy, the conference is being organized by Joanne Linnerooth-Bayer and Aniello Amendola, who is visiting from EC-JRC.

Support
        The conference is being supported by the European Commission within the Training and Mobility of Researchers (TMR) Programme and is the first of two “EuroConferences.” (The second in 2000 will address earthquake risks.) Additional support from The Geneva Association (International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics) is gratefully acknowledged.

For Young Researchers
        To provide training to young researchers on the use of systems analysis and models to improve flood risk management, the final day of the conference will be devoted to hands-on experience in formulating problems and developing models to address them. In addition, young researchers will be asked to prepare comments on many of the papers presented throughout the conference.
     A limited number of grants to facilitate participation of young researchers from EU countries is available. The application form for the grant, (available here in PDF format, which can be viewed with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader) must be e-mailed/faxed to the conference secretariat by April 15, 1999.

Tentative Agenda
     Briefly outlined, the days of the conference will be devoted to the following topics:

For more detailed information, read the full agenda.

Venue and Registration
     The conference will be held at Laxenburg Castle, located approximately 20 kilometers south of Vienna. A bus transportation service will be available for people using accommodation provided by IIASA.
     To register, fill out the online conference registration form.  Or if you prefer, fill out and (snail) mail to us a paper version of the registration form, which is available here in PDF format. You can view and print the PDF file with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Conference Secretariat
     Ms Helene Pankl    
     IIASA
     Risk, Modeling and Policy
     A-2361 Laxenburg
     Austria
     Tel: +43-2236-807-456
     Fax: +43-2236-807-466 (as of 1 April 1999)
     Email: pankl@iiasa.ac.at