Reinhard Mechler
Research Group Leader and Senior Research Scholar
Systemic Risk and Resilience Research Group
Advancing Systems Analysis Program
Biography
Reinhard Mechler has over 20 years of experience analyzing and addressing socio-economic aspects of disaster and climate change risks. His interest is to provide evidence-based advice to a wide range of public and private sector decision-makers to improve decisions and build resilience against salient risks. Currently, he is the leader of the Systemic Risk and Resilience (SYRR) Research Group in the IIASA Advancing Systems Analysis (ASA) Program. He has also been a visiting professor at the University of Graz and is a senior lecturer at the University for Economics and Business in Vienna.Dr. Mechler has led and contributed to many international research and consultancy projects and is currently leading research for the Flood Resilience Alliance, which brings together researchers, international NGOs, and the private sector to build disaster and climate resilience across the globe. He acted as a lead author on the IPCC's special report on managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation (SREX), the 5th assessment report and the report on 1.5°C global warming, and is currently a lead author on the IPCC's 6th assessment report.
Areas of Expertise: Socio-Economics of natural disaster risk management and climate adaptation, climate risk and resilience, disaster risk management and climate change policy, loss and damage, climate finance.
Last update: 24 MAR 2021
Publications
Sendzimir, J., Slezak, G., Ouedraogo, R., Magnuszewski, P., Oueda, A., Nianogo, A., Moog, O., Pelochek, F., Salvadogo, L., Toe, P., Zerbo, H., & Mechler, R. (2015). A synthetic overview of the SUSFISH project (Sustainable Management of Water and Fish Resources in Burkina Faso): society meets ecology. Final Report. Vienne, APPEAR, 2015, 80 p.
Mechler, R. (2014). Financial preparation for natural disasters. IIASA Impact Sheet. Laxenburg: IS-02
Jongman, B., Hochrainer-Stigler, S., Feyen, L., Aerts, J.C.J.H., Mechler, R. , Botzen, W.J.W., Bouwer, L.M., Pflug, G.C. , Rojas, R., & Ward, P.J. (2014). Reply to 'Statistics of flood risk'. Nature Climate Change 4 (10) 844-845. 10.1038/nclimate2376.
Mechler, R. , Czajkowski, J., Kunreuther, H., Michel-Kerjan, E., Botzen, W., Keating, A., McQuistan, C., Cooper, N., & O'Donnell, I. (2014). Making Communities More Flood Resilient: The Role of Cost Benefit Analysis and Other Decision-support Tools in Disaster Risk Reduction. White Paper, Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance (9 September 2014)
Mechler, R. , Czajkowski, J., Kunreuther, H., Michel-Kerjan, E., Botzen, W., Keating, A., McQuistan, C., Cooper, N., & O'Donnell, I. (2014). Risk Nexus : Making communities more flood resilient: The role of cost-benefit analysis and other decision-support tools. Issue Brief, Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance, Zurich Insurance Company, Zurich, Switzerland (September 2014)