Advancing risk-informed investments for social and environmental protection and management

This report aims to answer the question of how to make investments robust and informed to social and environmental risks, with a focus on investments in water infrastructure. Three universal trends that increase the vulnerability of projects to risk are identified: increasing competition for water, climate change, and poor governance.

The report identifies how patterns of risk vary across four different geographical regions: Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Some examples of best practice in particular regions are presented.

Two approaches to risk and uncertainty are presented: Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and Adaptive Water Management (AWM). Both approaches are critical, in different capacities depending on the context, in order for investments in water infrastructural systems to be both robust to uncertainty and risk, and resilient in the long-run. Importantly, both are presented because they are complementary.

The report follows by discussing two existing risks management frameworks (DRR and climate proofing). The discussion draws on lessons inspired by IWRM and AWM to refine an understanding of how they can be used and how they operate within risk management frameworks. The report concludes by proposing recommendations to identified common limitations on managing investment risk.