Research on demand estimate on infrastructure in Asia: Bridging the gaps in infrastructure investment for flood protection in Asia

Investment is crucial in mitigating damage caused by flooding. Various international arenas recommend increasing investment in disaster risk reduction (DRR). 

Estimating the financial gaps in DRR is needed to consider appropriate investment policies, plans and financial arrangements. However, the estimates of the demand for DRR are rarely available, and academic literature in this area is limited. This is because budget data on DRR is rarely available and when it is to be considered the deep uncertainties in changing climate and society is difficult to do.

This paper aims at estimating the financial gaps relating to the infrastructure of flood protection. It analyzes the trends in budgets for flood protection in the major flood-prone economies in Asia and proposes a methodology for estimating the demand for flood protection infrastructure based on actual budget data newly collected. The demand in the region until 2030 is estimated using regression analysis to apply the panel data of possible socio-economic factors, and the financial gaps are estimated. The paper also aims at proposing policies on filling these gaps by examining policies and approaches in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Philippines and Japan, which have experienced increasing investment in flood protection. This paper has been prepared as a part of the research project “Demand estimate on social and disaster prevention infrastructure in Asia” conducted by the JICA Research