[Webinar] Risk, Time and Type Preferences for Climate Change Adaptation Measures

About the Event

SYNOPSIS

In the coming decades, large investments in flood protection infrastructure will have to be made to protect coastal cities against climate change. Such investments require careful evaluation as they may have significant impacts on ecosystem services, in addition to providing flood protection benefits. As climate change is surrounded by many uncertainties and evolves over decades, and as flood protection infrastructure usually has long lifespans, these investments are basically a choice to incur costs now for uncertain benefits from flood risk reduction in the future. Hence, understanding society’s preferences for flood protection infrastructure is important to generate support for the climate adaptation measures and maximise welfare. This presentation discusses the results of a survey with a choice experiment among 550 residents to assess people’s preferences for measures to protect Singapore against increasing flooding risk due to climate change. The survey focussed on people’s preferences for the level of flood risk, postponing investments and the use of nature-based solutions.