par Hecq, Walter
Référence ERA-net CIRCLE, Workshop on Cost-Benefit in Adapting to Climate Change (24 September 2009: Bonn)
Publication Non publié, 2009-09-24
Communication à un colloque
Résumé : The ADAPT Project∗ « Towards an extended cost-benefit analysis decision support tool for adaptation measures » Case study : Floods In its White Paper on adapting to climate change, the European Commission stressed the importance of having « access to reliable data on the likely impact of climate change, the associated socio-economic aspects and the costs and benefits of different adaptation options ». The ADAPT project has been addressing this challenge by the development of a practical methodology for assisting decision making about the selection of cost-effective flood protection strategies in the context of climate change, based on the integrated evaluation of economic, social and ecological impacts. In order to develop and test the cost-benefit analysis based methodology, a case study on a target impact has been chosen: flooding in the two main Belgian river basins. This application to a precise case of impacts will allow to refine the management tool developed in the project, as well as to deepen the methodology. The subject is vast and complex, and needs to be managed using a multidisciplinary approach that takes into account the economic, social and environmental impacts (holistic way), and their mutual interaction in accordance with the principle of sustainable development and management. The subject is investigated and analyzed by five partners of a complementary scientific expertise belonging to the three pillars of sustainable development and starting from the technical and strategic considerations. The analysis of adaptation strategies related to flooding is built on a schema comprising the following steps: Evaluating the impact of climate change induced flooding on river basins; Evaluating secondary impacts of climate change induced flooding on vulnerable sectors in river basins; Determining adaptation measures (response); Evaluating costs of adaptation measures; Performing a cost-benefit analysis extended with a multicriteria analysis. During the process, scientific support for the authorities is sought out and contacts are established with the leader of another related research project (CCI-HYDR) which brings inputs in terms of trends and cycles of rainfall due to climate change, in connection with their impacts on hydrological extremes along rivers and urban drainage systems. The cost-benefit based tool is built on the basis of criteria such as efficiency, feasibility and acceptability framework, along with their limitations, for which uncertainty analysis will be a permanent preoccupation. Nevertheless, the instrument has to be sufficiently flexible to be applied to other forms of impacts identified and become a keystone for climate related impacts.