Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS-HUMAN AND POLICY DIMENSIONS
Volume 20, Issue 3, Pages 229-247Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/17477891.2020.1771251
Keywords
Buyouts; property acquisition; open space; flood resiliency; benefit-cost analysis; flood mitigation
Categories
Funding
- United States National Science Foundation [1545837]
- Nature Conservancy
- Walton Family Foundation
- Office Of Internatl Science &Engineering
- Office Of The Director [1545837] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Traditional buyout practices after flood events are often disjointed and overlook ecological values. This study proposes a methodological framework that considers the relationship between ecological values and economic benefits, demonstrating that including these criteria does not significantly reduce the cost-effectiveness of buyouts and can help communities become more resilient over the long term.
The impact of recent flood events, such as hurricane Harvey in 2017 which affected the upper Texas coastal region, has sparked new proposals for buying out damaged properties to reduce flood risk and return them to natural open space. Traditionally, buyouts have been carried out with little regard for non-monetary benefits, such as ecological and aesthetic values, but have been driven by a cost-benefit calculus that leads to a reactionary, ad hoc selection process after a flood event has already occurred. This standard practice can result in a disjointed pattern of open spaces that does little to protect environmental assets. In response to the lack of research that also considers the complementary ecological benefits of buyout programmes, this study tests a methodological framework that identifies candidate parcels for acquisition along a spectrum of ecological and proximity variables, by statistically and spatially identifying the nexus between ecological value and economic benefits when acquiring flooded properties. Importantly, we show that including these criteria does not significantly reduce the cost-effectiveness of buyouts and that acquiring parcels for flood risk reduction can be combined with protecting ecological values in a way that helps communities to become more resilient over the long term.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available