Is Aeolian risk as significant as other environmental risks?

Wind is the origin of many risks. These are identified and defined in Secti ons 1 and 2 of this paper. The effects of climate changes are discussed in Section 3, while structural vulnerability to wind actions is the object of Section 4. In addition to the heavy damages that can be caused by windstorm s, the wind climate affects significantly the quality of life through pheno mena like wind-borne pollution that are addressed in Section 5. Section 6 a ddresses specifically experimental research on wind effects. The final sect ions discuss some current and forthcoming research on assessment and reduct ion of wind risks. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.