Efficient or Fair? Operationalizing Ethical Principles in Flood Risk Management: A Case Study on the Dutch-German...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Hydrology
• Risk Management

Background:

• Current flood risk management often uses cost-benefit analysis, neglecting geographical risk distribution and fairness.
• This can lead to policies that disproportionately affect certain areas for overall cost reduction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel decision criterion for flood risk management that incorporates the distribution of risk reduction.
• To apply this criterion to a transboundary Rhine River case study, evaluating different flood control interventions.

Main Methods:

• Developed and applied four alternative formulations for flood risk management, incorporating various ethical principles and equity criteria.
• Analyzed three intervention types: embankment heightening, Room for the River, and altering river discharge distribution.
• Evaluated the trade-offs between economic performance and risk distribution equity.

Main Results:

• Cost-optimization approaches resulted in poor outcomes in specific regions to minimize aggregate costs.
• Equity-focused formulations showed varied results; equal risk reduction led to poor economic performance.
• Distributing risk equally aligned economic performance with cost-optimization but achieved fairer risk distribution.
• Intervention choices differed: cost-optimization favored discharge changes, while equity-focused methods prioritized embankments and Room for the River.

Conclusions:

• The proposed decision criterion enhances flood risk management by integrating risk distribution.
• Considering equity alongside cost is crucial for developing fairer and more effective flood protection policies.
• The choice of risk reduction measures is significantly influenced by the inclusion of fairness considerations.