Assessing market and non-market costs of freshwater flooding due to climate change in the community of Fredericton, Eastern Canada

Autor: Van Lantz, William Richards, Ryan Trenholm, Jeffrey J. Wilson
Rok vydání: 2011
Předmět:
Zdroj: Climatic Change. 110:347-372
ISSN: 1573-1480
0165-0009
DOI: 10.1007/s10584-011-0063-3
Popis: There is a general consensus that climate change will increase the frequency and severity of freshwater flooding in many parts of the world. Communities prone to such flooding have struggled to understand the manner in which this will affect them (in both economic and social terms) and the appropriate way to adapt. In this study, we conduct a case-study investigation into the costs of freshwater flooding due to climate change along the Saint John River in Fredericton, NB, Canada. We develop a four-step framework that combines extreme event analysis, downscaled general circulation models, hydrologic analysis, and the contingent valuation method. Using this framework, together with primary data on a 2005 flooding event, we estimate market and non-market annual average flood damage under a number of climate and population scenarios. We find that non-market costs can represent up to 50% of total household costs of flooding events, and 23–42% of the total costs of flooding due to climate change, depending on the different climate and population scenarios considered. Incorporating such costs into flood adaptation planning may substantially increase support for active adaptation activities, especially in ‘worst case’ climate scenarios.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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