The number and impact of catastrophic floods have increased significantly in the last decade, endangering both human lives and the environment. With on-going climate change, the risk of flooding is likely to increase even further. This prompts the urgent question: how to use the limited resources available for flood risk management in an equitable and efficient way?
In the flood risk literature, this question is often reduced to a monetary optimization problem, ignoring the moral aspects. Neither is it recognized that people may have different, often conflicting, views on what equity and efficiency amount to. The goal of this project is to develop an ethical framework for reconciling efficiency and equity considerations in flood risk management.
In my PhD research, I developed a reflective equilibrium model for reconciling conflicting criteria when distributing responsibilities in a research team. In this VENI-project, I will explore a new line of distributive problems at a societal level, where we are confronted with a plurality of moral views and where collective interests may put pressure on individuals’ rights to be safeguarded against flooding. In such situations, it is extremely difficult to find a morally acceptable trade-off between efficiency and equity.
The overall research question is: how to reconcile equity and efficiency in flood risk management in a way that is acceptable in a pluralistic society. By developing a procedural theory, this innovative project addresses two major challenges for risk governance and risk ethics. First, equity and efficiency will be properly conceptualized and operationalized for the context of flood risk management, which is required before any trade-off can be made. Second, equity and efficiency will be developed such that they are acceptable in a pluralistic society.
The approach followed in this project is based on political philosophical literature on distribution problems and empirical research on stakeholders’ opinions. The project will lead to action-guiding recommendations for flood risk management, enabling a morally acceptable implementation of flood risk policy.
Funding
VENI-grant for innovational research from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) (grant nr. 016.144.071). The project runs from February 1, 2014 - January 31, 2018.