Journal article
Developing more useful equity measurements for flood-risk management
Nature sustainability, Vol.7(6), pp.823-832
06/01/2024
DOI: 10.1038/s41893-024-01345-3
Abstract
Decision-makers increasingly invoke equity to motivate, design, implement and evaluate strategies for managing flood risks. Unfortunately, there is little guidance on how analysts can develop measurements that support these tasks. Here we analyse how equity can be defined and measured by surveying 167 peer-reviewed publications that explicitly state an interest in equity in the context of flood-risk management. Our main result is a taxonomy that systematizes how equity has been, and can be, defined and measured in flood-risk research. The taxonomy embodies how equity is a pluralistic and unavoidably ethical concept. Despite this, we find that most quantitative studies fail to motivate or defend critical value judgements on which their findings depend. We also find that studies often include only a single equity measurement. This practice can overlook important trade-offs between competing perspectives on equity. For example, the few studies that employ distinct principles show that conclusions about equity depend on which principle underlies a specific measurement and how that principle is operationalized. We draw on our analysis to suggest practices for developing more useful equity indicators and performing more comprehensive quantitative equity assessments in the broader context of environmental risks.
Flood-risk management strategies are increasingly incorporating equity considerations, but measuring equity poses challenges. This study maps observed equity indicators to a taxonomy to help analysts develop robust evidence about equity when managing uneven exposure to environmental harms.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Developing more useful equity measurements for flood-risk management
- Creators
- Adam B. Pollack - Dartmouth CollegeCasey Helgeson - Pennsylvania State UniversityCarolyn Kousky - Environmental Defense FundKlaus Keller - Dartmouth College
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Nature sustainability, Vol.7(6), pp.823-832
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41893-024-01345-3
- ISSN
- 2398-9629
- eISSN
- 2398-9629
- Publisher
- NATURE PORTFOLIO
- Number of pages
- 13
- Grant note
- ICER-2103754 / Megalopolitan Coastal Transformation Hub (MACH) under NSF Dartmouth College
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 06/01/2024
- Academic Unit
- School of Earth, Environment, and Sustainability
- Record Identifier
- 9985112881202771
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