Marta Vicarelli, assistant professor of economics and public policy, and her coauthors released a new study titled "On the cost-effectiveness of Nature-based Solutions for reducing disaster risk" in Science of the Total Environment. The study analyzed over 20,000 English-language scientific articles and found that Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are cost-effective in mitigating disaster risks when compared to engineered solutions.
NbS are interventions that use ecosystems, such as mangroves, coastal reefs, and forests, to mitigate natural disaster risk or assist in climate change adaptation. When compared to engineered infrastructure, 65% of articles studied found NbS to always be more effective and 24% partially more effective. No study found engineered solutions to be more effective than NbS. These findings are crucial for policymakers to consider when developing solutions to increased disaster risk brought on by climate change.
Vicarelli's study includes several coauthors who are graduates of the UMass Amherst School of Public Policy. The study began as a project led by Vicarelli in SPP's Workshop course with the Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (PEDRR).