Environmentalists and free market practitioners are seeking common ground in finding ways to minimize risks associated with hurricanes, according to speakers at the Hurricane Science for Safety Leadership Forum.

Speaking this week at a meeting in Orlando, Fla., representatives of the National Wildlife Federation offered to join forces with insurers and others interested in hurricane risk mitigation, to work for common interests that would protect wetlands. The wetlands act as natural buffers against hurricanes and also provide an important habitat for wildlife.

Amanda Staudt, from the National Wildlife Federation, said there is an “obvious overlap of interests” for different stakeholders to work together, and she cited areas in which she is attempting to build a wide consensus. One point, she said, is reducing the incentive to build in high-risk areas such as floodplains and coastal land vulnerable to sea-level rise.

She noted that high-risk flooding areas that cause concern for many stakeholders are along coasts and rivers, and she said these areas are also important for wildlife habitat.

She said there were prior efforts to build a wide consensus with other stakeholders, but this time more aggressive addressing of climate change is helping to bring people together.

For example, in her nine key points, titled “Shared Principles for Minimizing Risk from Hurricanes, Storms and Flooding in the Face of Global Warming,” Ms. Staudt mentions, “Take global warming into account in building practices.” She said global warming is expected to make hurricanes more intense, with higher wind speed, and building codes today, designed to ensure buildings can resist winds up to a certain speed, should take into account that hurricanes may come with stronger winds in the future.

The National Wildlife Federation received an unlikely ally in Eli Lehrer, of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, described as a “free market think tank.” Mr. Lehrer said he is usually opposed to environmental groups, but he acknowledged that free market and environmental groups are both committed to ideas and principles, rather than the concept of permanent allies and enemies. On the idea of hurricane mitigation, he said, the interests of free enterprise and environmentalists are aligned.

For example, where Ms. Staudt spoke to reducing the incentive to build in high-risk areas, Mr. Lehrer, speaking about Florida, stressed that the government should not be providing incentives for people to live in these areas. There is no particular benefit, he said, to people living on dunes or in wetlands. If people choose to live there, then they should bear the costs associated with that decision, Mr. Lehrer stated.

In general, Mr. Lehrer said he respects the work of the National Wildlife Federation, and he said he sees a lot of places where free market environmental groups can work together.

Special Reports /

Foes Come Together For Hurricane Mitigation

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