Disaster and Climate Change Risk Assessment Methodology for IDB Projects: A Technical Reference Document for IDB Project Teams
Date
Dec 2019
Taking disaster and climate change risks into consideration in the design and construction of projects is important to increase their resilience. The Bank has developed a methodology to facilitate the identification and assessment of disaster and climate change risks and resilience opportunities in all relevant projects in the identification, preparation, and implementation phases. The Methodology for the assessment and management of disaster and climate change risk in projects takes into consideration information at each project stage, the variety of IDB-financed projects and operations, and the availability of information depending on the country and type of hazard. It also recognizes the uncertainty of climate change; that is, there is inherent uncertainty in future conditions, including those related to climate. Realizing that there is the risk of both over-engineering solutions (i.e., using costly methods or mitigation measures that are not necessarily appropriate) and not fully accounting for future conditions (i.e., not appropriately considering plausible future conditions that could impact investments), it integrates bottom-up approaches that are more likely to lead to a low-regrets solution where significant risks are addressed by strategies that are also likely to minimize costs and achieve co-benefits that will be valuable even if future climate differs from the central trend of model predictions.
The Methodology involves several phases and steps where efforts and resources are commensurate with levels of risk. It breaks down the steps and explains different types of hazards, as well as sector- and structure-specific issues that need to be addressed. It is meant to provide practical support to project teams in different sectors, executing agencies, technical experts, and external consulting and design firms on how to integrate disaster and climate change risk considerations into project preparation and implementation, where relevant. Considering climate change and disaster risks within the design and construction process is important to increase the resilience of projects.
The Methodology involves several phases and steps where efforts and resources are commensurate with levels of risk. It breaks down the steps and explains different types of hazards, as well as sector- and structure-specific issues that need to be addressed. It is meant to provide practical support to project teams in different sectors, executing agencies, technical experts, and external consulting and design firms on how to integrate disaster and climate change risk considerations into project preparation and implementation, where relevant. Considering climate change and disaster risks within the design and construction process is important to increase the resilience of projects.
