Disaster Risk, Climate Change, and Poverty : Assessing the Global Exposure of Poor People to Floods and Droughts

People living in poverty are particularly vulnerable to shocks, including those caused by natural disasters such as floods and droughts. Previous studies in local contexts have shown that poor people are also often overrepresented in hazard-prone a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Winsemius, Hessel C., Jongman, Brenden, Veldkamp, Ted I.E., Hallegatte, Stephane, Bangalore, Mook, Ward, Philip J.
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2015
Subjects:	FLOODING POOR PEOPLE RISKS HOUSEHOLD SIZE HOUSEHOLD SURVEY POVERTY REDUCTION POVERTY LINE IMPACT ON POVERTY STORM SPATIAL SCALE FLOOD PROTECTION UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT HYDROLOGIC CYCLE TOPOGRAPHY POVERTY LEVELS POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGIES HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS INCOME DISASTER‐RISK DISCHARGE HYDROLOGY MONITORING RESERVOIRS HOUSING DEATH SURFACE WATER LAND SCARCITY NATIONAL POVERTY DISASTER WETLAND AREAS DAMAGES INCOME GAP GLOBAL POVERTY QUALITY MEASURES DISASTER EVENTS HOUSEHOLD‐LEVEL DATA EXTREME WEATHER HURRICANES LAND PRICES SAFETY NETS STREAM RURAL POPULATIONS CLIMATIC CONDITIONS SAVINGS RURAL HOUSEHOLDS RESERVOIR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY NATURAL DISASTER DROUGHT CONDITIONS WATER AVAILABILITY SUBSISTENCE FARMERS FLOODS PLAINS FLOODED NATURAL HAZARD TRANSFERS NATURAL DISASTERS WAVES HOUSEHOLD INCOME POVERTY MAPS ESTIMATES OF POVERTY DISASTERS HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS INDICATORS CLIMATE CHANGE PRECIPITATION PATTERNS CASE STUDIES FARMERS PRECIPITATION RUNOFF CLASSIFICATION COASTAL AREAS POVERTY DATA DROUGHTS NATURAL HAZARDS STUDIES DISASTER REDUCTION DISASTER RISK DROUGHT POOR POLICY IMPACT OF DISASTER NATIONAL SCALE RURAL LEVEL BANK EXTREME EVENTS POOR COUNTRIES FLOOD DAMAGE CLIMATE EL NINO WETLAND ECOSYSTEMS DAMAGE RURAL SAMPLE SIZE PONDS DIKES URBAN SETTINGS FLOOD FOOD HUMAN DEVELOPMENT RURAL GAPS DATA SETS DEATH TOLL TARGETING POVERTY INDICATORS RURAL AREAS CLIMATIC CHANGE LAKES LAND ECOSYSTEMS FLOOD PLAINS ANALYSIS FLOOD DAMAGES COAST HURRICANE OBSERVATIONS RIVERINE RISK GROUNDWATER MITIGATION POOR HOUSEHOLDS ARID REGIONS SAMPLING POVERTY WETLAND DROUGHT RISK SOUTHERN OSCILLATION CLIMATE CONDITIONS RISK MANAGEMENT POOR AGREEMENT EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS NATIONAL‐SCALE WEATHER EVENTS SAFETY WETLANDS LAND‐USE RECONSTRUCTION INEQUALITY RIVER FLOW REGIMES
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/11/25250857/disaster-risk-climate-change-poverty-assessing-global-exposure-poor-people-floods-droughts http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23437

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Summary:	People living in poverty are particularly vulnerable to shocks, including those caused by natural disasters such as floods and droughts. Previous studies in local contexts have shown that poor people are also often overrepresented in hazard-prone areas. However, systematic evidence across countries demonstrating this finding is lacking. This paper analyzes at the country level whether poor people are disproportionally exposed to floods and droughts, and how this exposure may change in a future climate. To this end, household survey data with spatial identifiers from 52 countries are combined with present-day and future flood and drought hazard maps. The paper defines and calculates a “poverty exposure bias” and finds support that poor people are often overexposed to droughts and urban floods. For floods, no such signal is found for rural households, suggesting that different mechanisms—such as land scarcity—are more important drivers in urban areas. The poverty exposure bias does not change significantly under future climate scenarios, although the absolute number of people potentially exposed to floods or droughts can increase or decrease significantly, depending on the scenario and the region. The study finds some evidence of regional patterns: in particular, many countries in Africa exhibit a positive poverty exposure bias for floods and droughts. For these hot spots, implementing risk-sensitive land-use and development policies that protect poor people should be a priority.

Disaster Risk, Climate Change, and Poverty : Assessing the Global Exposure of Poor People to Floods and Droughts

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