Cost-benefit assessment

This book deals with the difficulties that face the economics of adaptation. Critical issues include: uncertainty; baselines; reversibility, flexibility and adaptive management; distributional impacts; discount rates and time horizons; mixing monetary and non-monetary evaluations and limits to the use of cost-benefit analysis; economy-wide impacts and cross-sectoral linkages. All of these are addressed in the book from the perspective of economics of adaptation.

To what extent does economic analysis of climate change depend on low-probability, high-impact events? This question has received a great deal of attention lately, with the contention increasingly made that climate damage could be so large that societal willingness to pay to avoid extreme outcomes should overwhelm other seemingly important assumptions, notably on time preference. This paper provides an empirical examination of some key theoretical points, using a probabilistic integrated assessment model.

This study was commissioned as part of IMACC to look at approaches for the economic assessment of climate change adaptation options. Special emphasis is being placed on the issue of including uncertainty in the economic assessment and respective approaches. The study’s terms of reference (ToRs), define three main tasks: 1. Discussing existing needs and experience gained with respect to the use of economic approaches for the assessment of climate change adaptation options; 2.

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) effect has been found to be associated with regional climate variations in many regions of the world, and, in turn, with variation in crop yields. Previous studies have found that early releases of ENSO phase information could permit agricultural producers to make adjustments in their decisions and in turn generate an increase in agricultural sector welfare. This study examines whether the value of the agricultural responses can be enhanced by releasing more detailed ENSO information.

The aim of this report is to present a high-level review of recent studies that have field-tested CBA either to inform or evaluate community-based climate and disaster risk management ini-tiatives. This report updates a synthesis report (that was written in 2010 and included 11 original studies) and involved a desk-based review of a total of 23 studies. Annex B describes the three approaches possible for CBAs.

The aim of this report is to present a high-level review of recent studies that have field-tested CBA either to inform or evaluate community-based climate and disaster risk management ini-tiatives. This report updates a synthesis report (that was written in 2010 and included 11 original studies) and involved a desk-based review of a total of 23 studies. A synopsis of each study is provided in Annex A of this report.

The aim of this report is to present a high-level review of recent studies that have field-tested CBA either to inform or evaluate community-based climate and disaster risk management ini-tiatives. This report updates a synthesis report (that was written in 2010 and included 11 original studies) and involved a desk-based review of a total of 23 studies.

The papers describes the interlinkage between damage costs by hurricanes in the US and loss of weatland.

Early warning systems (EWS) are a critical life-saving tool for floods, droughts, storms, bushfires and other hazards. Recorded economic losses linked to extreme hydro-meteorological events have increased nearly 50 times over the past five decades, but the global loss of life has decreased significantly, by a factor of about 10, thus millions of lives are being saved.

The aim of this study is to estimate the health impacts and economic costs and benefits of improving water supply and sanitation services, with a focus on the least developed countries that are “off-track” to meet the water supply and sanitation MDG targets.