Role of Place Attachment in Adapting to Climate Change Through Insurance

Insurance uptake for natural disasters is decreasing even in the face of severe weather events due to climate change. The Hampton Roads Region of Virginia is extremely vulnerable to natural disasters due to climate change. Therefore, migration sometimes becomes a threat to people if they do not have insurance to protect themselves against climate change induced events. Conveying to people that purchasing natural disaster insurance is important is necessary which is why looking at reasons why people do or not purchase it must be evaluated. Looking at how place attachment can make people more aware and more interested in different types of insurance mechanisms that are offered in other parts of the world or also in the United States will be necessary to show what people want. Also looking at how place attachment affects the uptake of natural disaster insurance will be important in order to effectively communicate to people why natural disaster insurance is a viable option to adapt to climate change. Therefore, we will be able to see if strong place attachment will correlate into stronger adaptation choices like choosing insurance, even different types of insurance. In order to find this out, surveys will be administered to residents of Hampton Roads, Virginia. This will get results about how people feel about their residence and natural disaster insurance. With this information, more knowledge about people‘s preferences and desires can be used to try and change the role of insurance in adaptation to climate change.

Hello my name is Jordan and for my project I will be talking about place attachment and its role in insurance for natural disasters due to climate change. I would like to thank my mentor Professor Ted Chen from the Environmental Science and Policy Department for his help throughout this project and I would also like to thank the Oscar office for this opportunity to complete this research.

First we are going to look at some definitions to put some things for this project into context. Climate adaptation is the adjustments that can be made by any individual in an effort to prepare for the expected damages that may occur from an event related to climate change. Place attachment is going to be an emotional bond that a person develops with their setting. So in the context of this project, it is going to be the person‘s home. Insurance mechanisms are going to be different ways with which to receive coverage if a natural disaster were to occur. So these are going to be types of insurance for natural disasters that are either not offered in the United States, or they are offered in the United States, they are just not as popular, or they are newer.

Previous research has shown us that people with high place attachment will have a harder time moving away from their home. It also shows us that individuals with high place attachment want to build the resilience of their communities more and this can be through various adaptation measures. Place attachment can affect the adaptation decisions of an individual which can include insurance and other ways of adapting to climate change. It is also known that people do not want to purchase conventional natural disaster insurance due to resources or financial constraints.

The research questions for this project are going to be: does place attachment have an effect on insurance as an adaptation option? So how does place attachment play a role in the decision of whether to buy or not buy insurance for natural disasters. Next is going to be: does place attachment, purchasing insurance, and migration create a feedback loop? So does place attachment create a desire to invest in natural disaster insurance and then does that create an incentive to stay and not migrate from your home and then does place attachment create a desire not to move away and does that create an incentive to purchase natural disaster insurance? Finally, how does place attachment create variances across different insurance mechanisms? So the different insurance mechanisms that are going to be looked at that differ from conventional natural disaster insurance offered in the United States how does place attachment of an individual affect their choices about those different insurance mechanisms?

This is necessary to learn because it will show us whether there are instances where there is more incentive to buy insurance or not and instances whether to migrate or not. We will also be able to learn about the choices that people make and why they do so. With this information, it can show what needs to be changed about the current system. It will show us how barriers that are created by conventional natural disaster insurance like financial constraints can be erased. It will also give way to show people that there are different ways to adapt to climate change such as insurance. All of this will show us how we can help people to adapt more to climate change especially through insurance and how current policies should be changed so that more people are able to and want to purchase natural disaster insurance.

The process of this project is going to be a survey-based project. The survey will be administered to people of the Hamptons Roads Region of Virginia because this area is extremely vulnerable to severe weather events exacerbated by climate change. In the surveys, people will be asked questions about their personal demographics and then they will be asked questions in certain categories like place attachment and natural disaster insurance. This will give us the direct answers that we need from people to learn more about what people are currently doing compared to what they actually want to do if they had the options. From there, we can see if there are any correlations between place attachment and the insurance that people will choose for natural disasters due to climate change.

Finally, here is a list of my references used for this presentation. Thank you for listening.