From risk to resilience, working paper 7: evaluating the costs and benefits of disaster risk reduction under changing climatic conditions, a Pakistan case study
This case study is designed to use both social and natural science tools to answer a set of basic questions on proactive risk reduction. The primary question is to determine whether and/or in what cases is proactive disaster risk reduction cost effective. Second, how can we compare the cost effectiveness of various proposed strategies to assist policy makers in making decisions? Finally, what are the limitations and risks in use of CBA for decisionmaking?
This case study starts with a description of the study area, the current risks faced by the local population, the evolution of various approaches debated for risk reduction, and the likely impacts of climate change in the area. Section three, discusses the parameters, assumptions and approaches in the application of costbenefit analysis to the strategies selected for economic evaluation. Policy implications and advocacy potential of the analyses are discussed in Section five and, finally, broad conclusions from the case study are summarized in the last
section.