La geografía de los riesgos en España (1992-2022)Cambios y oportunidades enuna temática de trabajo consolidada y en alza

Abstract

Spain is one of the European countries most exposed to natural hazards.Increase in vulnerability and exposure experienced since 1990 has been decisive for theincrease in the degree of risk suffered by some regional and local areas. Added to this isthe increase registered in the frequency and intensity of some atmospheric hazardsbecause of the process of climate warming that our planet is experiencing. In thiscontext, administrations face the challenge and the need to incorporate spatial analysisand risk mapping into territorial planning processes. Study of natural risks has experienced a significant advance within the Spanish geography in the last three decades. The proposals to respond to the above have placed this work theme as one of the most outstanding within the discipline in the last 30 years. All this has made it possible to carry out research aimed at the application of results with a strictly utilitarian purpose: to reduce the degree of risk in society. In this paper we analyze the recent evolution of studies on natural risks in Spain. The different topics addressed are broken down, clearly differentiated in time and space. A bibliometric analysis is carried out by crossing data on the location, type and number of claims registered by the Insurance Compensation Consortium, with the variables of place of origin and type of natural risk analyzed in the scientific works carried out by geographers in Spain in the last three decades. The existing spatio-temporal correlations between types of claims and types of risks studied are empirically evidenced. In this analysis, the great impulse experienced by this geographical thematic of study within Spanish geography and its essential contribution as a science specialized in solving socio-environmental problems is verified.