Author: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), International Center for Integrated Water Resources Manage-ment (ICIWaRM)
Year of publication: 2018
Available languages: English
Type of assessment: Vulnerability assessment
Format of assessment: Guideline
Details: Collaborative process for risk-informed decision making
Estimated costs for conducting: No information
Estimated duration of assessment: No information
To be carried out by whom: Consultants (climate experts)
Details: Analysts would typically be individuals with a technical background in water resources management
Institutional scale of use: Multiple (see details)
Details: National, provincial and local water resources/ infrastructure
Assesment to be used by which target audience: Multiple actors
Details: Water resources and flood risk managers, asset and infrastructure managers, private companies, and national, provincial, and local government planning authorities
Output: Others (see details)
Details: Recommendation plan to decision makers, implementation plan, adaptive management plan
Region of origin: North America, Europe
Developed by which sector: Science, Development cooperation
Applied in practice: No information
Geographic coverage in analysis: Worldwide
Potential geographic coverage: Worldwide
Sectors covered: Water sector
Details: Water resource management and infrastructure, flood risk management private companies
Method used: Mixed method approach
Description of methodology: Blend of the World Bank’s so-called “decision tree methodology” (Ray and Brown 2015), the adaptive planning approaches developed in the Netherlands (e.g., Haasnoot et al. 2013) and applied in delta management (e.g., Bloemen 2015, Jeuken et al. 2014, Van Alphen 2015) and the UNESCO guidelines for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM; UNESCO 2009)
Risk framework used: Broad risk mapping according to different definition
Details: Climate risk is defined as a climate-induced hazard with a certain probability for impacting communities and assets exposed to the hazard. These consequences can also be decomposed into vulnerability X exposure. CRIDA quantifies the climate risks within a certain climate state (future, present) but does not evaluate the probabilities that a certain climate state will occur
Risk components incorporated: All
Hazards and impacts considered in the assessment: Drought, Flood, Extreme rainfall, Storm surge
Details: Water related climate hazards
Source of required data: Primary and secondary
Details: Data on past critical events, survey data, meteorological and streamflow data, hydrology-, river hydraulics-, and flood damage models, forecast data
Temporal scale: Forward looking
Participatory elements: Yes
Details: Stakeholder engagement through a bottom-up collaborative process
Consideration of interconnectedness and -dependencies of risks: No information
Adressing uncertainty: Yes
Details: A list of guiding principles for the determination of high analytical uncertainty is provided
Scope of assessment: Identification of risks, assessment of impacts, identification of adaptation options
Details: Effectively assessing, managing, and communicating risks to stakeholders and decision makers, including successfully avoided risks and residual risks that cannot be avoided, quantified, or isolated
Economic/Non-Economic losses incorporated: Both
Details: Including the loss of life, public safety and health
Applicability for entire risk spectrum (from extreme weather events to slow onset processes): Partly
Details: Applicable only for water and water resources related risk
Recommendations for Adaptation measures included in Climate Risk Assessment: Yes
Details: The formulation and prioritisation of adaptation measures is one of the main goals of the assessment method
Usefulness for political purposes: The methodology can help national, regional and local governments overcome challenges to their respective water resources and infrastructure. Increased resilience to water-related hazards and climate impacts can prevent disruptions to relevant social services such as education and healthcare. In addition, the collaborative process of stakeholder engagement can enhance local dialogue and thereby foster social cohesion and the acceptance of adaptation measures
Applied by whom: Water resources and flood risk managers, asset and infrastructure managers, private companies, and national, provincial, and local government planning authorities
Open access: Yes