Supporting decision-making processes in the assessment of water-related risks: a review of models and methods

Abstract

The whole world is experiencing the impact of climate change, with an increase in the severity and frequency of water-related hazards and risks at different territorial levels. Consequently, enhancing territorial resilience and reducing these risks have emerged as one of today’s biggest challenges. Within this context, policymakers and planners need robust and transparent decision-making tools to effectively solve and rapidly respond to water-related hazards. This paper reviews the literature on these issues with the aim of providing a systematic overview of the current assessment of water-related hazards and risks. This review can afford an in-depth understanding of the role of evaluation methods in supporting policymakers in the design of cost-effective risk management strategies. We first provide an overview of the procedures for the assessment of hydrological and hydrogeological hazards and risks. We then identify gaps in current evaluation methods, particularly in terms of the economic consequences of these risks. Finally, we list the criteria from the literature that can be successfully adopted to assess water-related risks and to evaluate mitigation actions and interventions. Our findings reveal that significant advances are still needed to improve the robustness of the evaluation of the economic and financial impacts of water-related risks. The study can offer some important insights into decision-making and management processes for water-related risks, as well as a guide for future research focused on the multidimensionality of these issues.