Risk Aversion, Inequality and Economic Evaluation of Flood Damages: A Case Study in Ecuador

Frontuto, Vito; Dalmazzone, Silvana; Salcuni, Francesco; Pezzoli, Alessandro

doi:10.3390/su122310068

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…This bias in monetary valuation is codified by FEMA’s hazard mitigation assessment methodologies, through their use of benefit–cost analysis (Rose et al., 2007). In the absence of equity weighting, these methodologies create perverse incentives in prioritizing flood mitigation interventions, whereby wealthier property owners often receive greatest protection (Frontuto et al., 2020; Kind et al., 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As previously mentioned though, allocating resources based on social vulnerability in Vermont, and other rural areas, would require additional socioeconomic and demographic data at much finer spatial resolutions than what is currently available. Despite these limitations, other allocation methods, such as those based on means testing or equity‐weighted utility functions, may have similar impacts as prioritization based on social vulnerability (Frontuto et al., 2020; Kind et al., 2017). Each of these methods has different advantages and limitations, and may benefit certain groups of people more than others.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Inequities in the distribution of flood risk under floodplain restoration and climate change scenarios

et al. 2022

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The combined impacts of climate change and ecological degradation are expected to worsen inequality within society. These dynamics are exemplified by increases in flood risk globally. In general, low‐income and socially vulnerable populations disproportionately bear the cost of flood damages. Climate change is expected to increase the number of people exposed to fluvial flood risk and cause greater property damages. Floodplain restoration has the potential to mitigate these impacts, but the distribution of future risks among different types of property owners under these altered conditions is often unknown. Here, we develop a simple probabilistic approach for estimating flood risk to property owners under floodplain restoration and climate change scenarios for a range of flood recurrence intervals. We apply this approach in the Vermont, USA portion of the Lake Champlain Basin. Over a 100‐year time horizon, we estimate that the value of property damages caused by flood inundation is approximately $2.13 billion under the baseline scenario. Climate change is expected to increase damages to $5.29 billion, a 148% increase; however, floodplain restoration has the potential to reduce these impacts by approximately 20%. For all scenarios, a larger proportion of lower‐value properties, specifically mobile homes, face greater flood risk compared to higher‐value properties. Climate change is expected to cost higher‐value properties and commercial properties more than other types of properties, but these same groups are also expected to benefit most from floodplain restoration. In general, these results raise concern that those least able to prepare for and recover from flood damages are also the people who face the greatest threats. In response, public policy interventions must consider not only where flood risk is most severe, but also the vulnerability of people exposed to such risk. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inequities in the distribution of flood risk under floodplain restoration and climate change scenarios

et al. 2022

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“…Thereby, for each group, we could expect different reactions to a future volcanic crisis and then propose particular resilience practices. However, these kinds of approaches will largely depend on the data availability, which is particularly difficult in the rural tropics [25,57].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ash falls have hit the rural communities settled in the vicinity of the most active Ecuadorian volcanoes (i.e., Tungurahua, Reventador, Sangay, and Cotopaxi). Moreover, poverty, marginality, and high inequality of the exposed communities coexist with their physical and systemic vulnerabilities [57].…”

Section: Framework and Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community Perception and Communication of Volcanic Risk from the Cotopaxi Volcano in Latacunga, Ecuador

Zapata

Parrado²,

Frimberger

et al. 2021

Sustainability

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The inhabitants of Latacunga living in the surrounding of the Cotopaxi volcano (Ecuador) are exposed to several hazards and related disasters. After the last 2015 volcanic eruption, it became evident once again how important it is for the exposed population to understand their own social, physical, and systemic vulnerability. Effective risk communication is essential before the occurrence of a volcanic crisis. This study integrates quantitative risk and semi-quantitative social risk perceptions, aiming for risk-informed communities. We present the use of the RIESGOS demonstrator for interactive exploration and visualisation of risk scenarios. The development of this demonstrator through an iterative process with the local experts and potential end-users increases both the quality of the technical tool as well as its practical applicability. Moreover, the community risk perception in a focused area was investigated through online and field surveys. Geo-located interviews are used to map the social perception of volcanic risk factors. Scenario-based outcomes from quantitative risk assessment obtained by the RIESGOS demonstrator are compared with the semi-quantitative risk perceptions. We have found that further efforts are required to provide the exposed communities with a better understanding of the concepts of hazard scenario and intensity.

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“…Equity weights have been applied in a range of academic contexts, including assessments of flood impacts (Frontuto et al 2020, Gourevitch et al 2020 and estimates of the social cost of carbon (Anthoff et al 2009). They are also used by the U.K. government to assess alternative policy options (HM Treasury 2022), but have traditionally not been used in U.S. regulatory analysis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socioeconomic distributional impacts of evaluating flood mitigation activities using equity-weighted benefit-cost analysis

Lockwood,

Oppenheimer,

Lin

et al. 2024

Environ. Res. Lett.

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As the global impact of climate change intensifies, there is an urgent need for equitable and efficient climate adaptation policies. Traditional approaches for allocating public resources for climate adaptation that are based on economic benefit-cost analysis often overlook the resulting distributional inequalities. In this study, we apply equity weightings to mitigate the distributional inequalities in two key building and household level adaptation strategies under changing coastal flood hazards: property buyouts and building retrofit in New York City (NYC). Under a mid-range emissions scenario, we find that unweighted benefit cost ratios (BCR) applied to residential buildings are higher for richer and non-disadvantaged census tracts in NYC. The integration of income-based equity weights alters this correlation effect, which has the potential to shift investment in mitigation towards poorer and disadvantaged census tracts. This alteration is sensitive to the value of elasticity of marginal utility, the key parameter used to calculate the equity weight. Higher values of elasticity of marginal utility increase benefits for disadvantaged communities but reduce the overall economic benefits from investments, highlighting the trade-offs in incorporating equity into adaptation planning.

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Risk Aversion, Inequality and Economic Evaluation of Flood Damages: A Case Study in Ecuador

Cited by 7 publications

References 42 publications

Inequities in the distribution of flood risk under floodplain restoration and climate change scenarios

Inequities in the distribution of flood risk under floodplain restoration and climate change scenarios

Community Perception and Communication of Volcanic Risk from the Cotopaxi Volcano in Latacunga, Ecuador

Socioeconomic distributional impacts of evaluating flood mitigation activities using equity-weighted benefit-cost analysis

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