Decisions, Costs, Funding to Protect Coastal Cities: Populations and Assets (Personal and Municipal/National)

Abstract

Decisions on where and what investments should be made to build defenses to protect people and assets in coastal cities from exposure to hazard events are generally based initially on a cost-benefit analysis. Secondly, decisions ideally consider which investment or investments will most benefit a city’s general citizenry and not an economically advantaged or politically influential segment of a population. A third consideration in decision-making is how much municipal/national funding is initially available and how much funding can be obtained by low cost loans from institutions such as the World Bank and regional development banks that serve most areas (e.g., the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the African Development Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank). In addition, many national agencies in developed countries award grants and offer technical assistance to less-developed and developing countries to support well-planned development projects. These can originate, for example, from the United States, the European Union, France, Germany, Japan, Norway, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and others. The United Nations Development Program can provide technical assistance in lieu of funding.