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- Permanent Link:
- http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/FI13010964/00001
Notes
- Summary:
- This document emphasizes the role that socioeconomic development plays in increasing climate resilience, focusing primarily on the importance of female education and empowerment in reducing weather-related risks. This paper is addressed to policy-makers that work at the intersections between climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and development. The document begins by challenging the dominant emphasis placed on structural solutions and preparedness initiatives within disaster risk reduction, arguing that the effectiveness of these measures is always dependent on the characteristics of the communities that employ them. The authors then present an overview of the academic literature on the factors that affect levels of vulnerability to natural disasters, particularly political and human development. They highlight the fact that women are often some of the most vulnerable people during and after disasters, and the significant role that education has in reducing vulnerability. The document suggests that empowering women through improved education may be critical to reducing families’ vulnerability to weather-related disasters, citing research that has provided evidence of the powerful effects female education has had on community-level social capital and sustainable development. The paper uses econometrics to determine how many additional women need to be educated in order to neutralize increases in vulnerability to disaster due to climate change, and how much that would cost. The study looks at losses from extreme weather events in developing countries since 1960, and predicts future losses due to climate change. The authors establish a set of risk equations, develop country-specific projections for female education, and use statistical analysis to estimate how much improvements in female education will reduce losses, both in terms of lives and economic. Since populations in the developing world are growing, even constant risk will translate to more losses. This is further compounded when climate change is factored in. The authors’ simulations showed that countries that focused on female education suffered far fewer losses from extreme weather events than less-progressive countries with equivalent income and weather conditions. Neutralizing the impact of extreme weather events will require educating an additional 18 to 23 million young women. ( English )
- Subject:
- Climate Change Adaptation ( English )
- Citation/Reference:
- Blankespoor, B., Dasgupta, S., Laplante, B., & Wheeler, D. (2010). The economics of adaptation to extreme weather events in developing countries. The World Bank.
- General Note:
- Title from title caption (viewed on March 19, 2010).
- General Note:
- "January 2010."
- General Note:
- "This paper was made possible by financial support from the UK Department for International Development."
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- Florida International University
- Rights Management:
- The World Bank: The World Bank authorizes the use of this material subject to the terms and conditions on its website, http://www.worldbank.org/terms
- Resource Identifier:
- FI13010964
668136786 ( oclc )
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