Publication: Unlocking the 'Triple Dividend' of Resilience : Why Investing in Disaster Risk Management Pays Off
Loading...
Files in English
1,657 downloads
Date
2015-03-18
ISSN
Published
2015-03-18
Editor(s)
Abstract
The risk of a disaster can cause economic losses even before a disaster strikes. Investing in disaster resilience, therefore, can yield a ‘triple dividend’ by (1) avoiding losses when disasters strike; (2) unlocking development potential by stimulating innovation and bolstering economic activity in a context of reduced disaster-related background risk for investment; and (3) through the synergies of the social, environment and economic co-benefits of disaster risk management investments even if a disaster does not happen for many years.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Overseas Development Institute; World Bank Group. 2015. Unlocking the 'Triple Dividend' of Resilience : Why Investing in Disaster Risk Management Pays Off. © http://hdl.handle.net/10986/21612 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Improving the Assessment of Disaster Risks to Strengthen Financial Resilience(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012)Rising losses from adverse natural events are compelling leaders of countries to develop more proactive approaches to risk management. In 2011 the world witnessed record losses from disasters caused by natural hazards with estimated costs of up to US$380 billion. Events in both developed and developing countries have shown that this is not a threat facing just one part of the world. In this context, the Mexican G20 Presidency included this growing threat to sustainable development on the group's agenda, a decision which was welcomed by G20 finance ministers and central bank governors. The economic costs of disasters complicate public financial management for many countries. Natural hazards are nondiscriminatory, potentially affecting all countries irrespective of economic status. The negative fiscal impacts of disasters can hamper longer-term growth and economic development. While lower income countries bear the brunt of the human impact from disasters, middle income countries experience the largest economic impact relative to GDP. Responding to a G20 mandate, this publication brings together the experiences of G20 countries in protecting their populations and assets against natural hazards. Prevention is better than cure; there is a need to raise awareness about disaster risks and their potential financial consequences. Increased resilience and sustainable development will require a more proactive approach to tackle risk at its roots. Preparedness measures to cope when disasters strike need to be combined with ex ante measures to avoid disasters in the first place. The need for better information on adverse natural events and associated economic, fiscal and social impacts emerges as a key message. Countries can strengthen their financial resilience to disasters. Governments should stimulate innovative financial solutions with and leverage the technical and financial capacity of the reinsurance and capital markets through public private partnerships.Publication Higher Losses and Slower Development in the Absence of Disaster Risk Management Investments(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-04)Global economic losses from natural disasters continue to increase. Yet, investments in disaster risk management are not universal, as they are traditionally seen as in competition with other development and economic priorities. The multitude of benefits from disaster risk management investments are not traditionally accounted for in cost-benefit analyses. This paper contributes to this discussion by highlighting the multiple benefits from disaster risk management investments, focusing on the avoided losses when a disaster occurs, but also on the impacts on economic development even before a disaster strikes. The paper's main message is that disaster risk management investments can provide two dividends: reduced losses when a disaster strikes, and a shift of investment strategies and perhaps even an increase in investment value that would benefit the economy even before a disaster strikes. Providing evidence to policy makers and investors about the existence of both types of dividends can provide a narrative reconciling short-term and long-term objectives, thereby improving the acceptability and feasibility of disaster risk management investments.Publication Investing in Disaster Risk Management in an Uncertain Climate(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-04)Climate change will exacerbate the challenges associated with environmental conditions, especially weather variability and extremes, in developing countries. These challenges play important, if as yet poorly understood roles in the development prospects of affected regions. As such, climate change reinforces the development case for investment in disaster risk management. Uncertainty about how climate change will affect particular locations makes optimal investment planning more difficult. In particular, the inability to derive meaningful probabilities from climate models limits the usefulness of standard project evaluation techniques, such as cost-benefit analysis. Although the deep uncertainty associated with climate change complicates disaster risk management investment decisions, the analysis presented here shows that these considerations are only relevant for a relatively limited set of investment circumstances. The paper offers a simple decision framework that enables policy makers to identify the particular circumstances under which uncertainty about future climate change becomes critical for disaster risk management investment decisions. Accounting for climate uncertainty is likely to shift the optimal balance of disaster risk management strategies toward more flexible, low-regret type interventions, especially those that seek to promote "development first" or "risk-coping" objectives. Such investments are likely to confer additional development dividends, regardless of the climate future that materializes in a given location. Importantly, the analysis here also demonstrates that climate uncertainty does not necessarily motivate a "wait and see" approach. Instead, where opportunities exist to avail of adaptation co-benefits, climate uncertainty provides additional motivation for early investment in disaster risk management initiatives.Publication Strengthening Moldova’s Disaster Risk Management and Climate Resilience(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-06)Moldova is exposed to an array of natural hazards, and their impact disproportionately affects the poor. The Government of Moldova has been strengthening institutions to better prepare for and respond to disasters. It has improved the ability to forecast severe weather, including at the local level, through improved hydrometeorological services; it has reduced the agricultural sector’s vulnerability to climate change by improving irrigation services, strengthening the existing agriculture insurance scheme, and promoting climate-smart agriculture practices; and - importantly in light of the small size of the country - it has strengthened regional collaboration and knowledge sharing on disaster risk management (DRM). Local capacity is essential because Moldova’s ability to respond to Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), or any other shock or stress, is not just determined by its level of preparedness and readiness to cope with such complex crises, but also by the level of effectiveness of its governance systems (particularly in urban areas), as well as its existing service delivery and infrastructure systems. In this DRM country policy note, chapter one provides an overview of Moldova’s disaster and climate risk profile. Chapter two reviews the current institutional and legal framework for disaster risk management and financing, including measures and policies recently adopted. Chapter three is an assessment of the current DRM situation in Moldova, including ex ante and ex post disaster risk financing and insurance (DRFI) instruments currently in use for budget mobilization, and explores a potential earthquake scenario for Chisinau in more detail. The fourth chapter concludes with a look at potential institutional and financial gaps, including a summary of recommendations and different sets of corrective measures that can be envisaged.Publication Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance in Sub-Saharan Africa(Washington, DC, 2012-11)This policy note is a preliminary effort to present a body of knowledge on the state of disaster risk financing and insurance in Sub-Saharan Africa. It aims to contribute to a strengthened understanding and collective knowledge within Sub-Saharan Africa on disaster risk financing and insurance, and to encourage open dialogue between stakeholders on how strategies can best be developed to increase financial resilience against natural disasters. The report is targeted at policy-makers and actors in the international community with an interest in this agenda. In the context of this report, disaster risk financing and insurance refers to instruments and mechanisms at the macro, market and micro level that provide financial resources to assist with response and recovery efforts in the aftermath of a disaster. This report focuses on natural disasters, which we can describe as unforeseen events driven by natural phenomena that cause serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society causing widespread human, material, economic and/or environmental losses which overwhelm the capacity of the affected community or society. This report discusses rapid onset disasters such as cyclones, earthquakes and floods but also slow onset events such as drought. Sub-Saharan African countries are highly exposed to a wide range of adverse natural events, with hydro-meteorological hazards impacting the largest number of people. Disaster risk financing and insurance (DRFI) has been highlighted by the African union, regional economic communities and individual countries as an area for regional financial cooperation.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Doing Business 2014 : Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises(Washington, DC: World Bank Group, 2013-10-28)Eleventh in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 185 economies, Doing Business 2014 measures regulations affecting 11 areas of everyday business activity: Starting a business, Dealing with construction permits, Getting electricity, Registering property, Getting credit, Protecting investors, Paying taxes, Trading across borders, Enforcing contracts, Closing a business, Employing workers. The report updates all indicators as of June 1, 2013, ranks economies on their overall “ease of doing business”, and analyzes reforms to business regulation – identifying which economies are strengthening their business environment the most. The Doing Business reports illustrate how reforms in business regulations are being used to analyze economic outcomes for domestic entrepreneurs and for the wider economy. Doing Business is a flagship product by the World Bank and IFC that garners worldwide attention on regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship. More than 60 economies use the Doing Business indicators to shape reform agendas and monitor improvements on the ground. In addition, the Doing Business data has generated over 870 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals since its inception.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022(Washington, DC, 2022-11)The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.