Investing in water security for climate resilient growth and development

This policy brief by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network outlines a framework for integrating climate resilience into water security investments. It advocates for Robust Decision Making (RDM) to manage the high level of uncertainty regarding climate impacts on specific regions and sectors, prioritizing 'no/low regret' investments that provide benefits regardless of the climate scenario that materializes.

• There is a significant level of uncertainty regarding how climate change will specifically impact individual countries, regions, districts, and various economic sectors, public health, and social conditions, despite a general scientific consensus on the likelihood of climate change.
• Robust Decision Making (RDM) is proposed as a strategy to create government decisions that remain valid regardless of future climate outcomes. Rather than relying on probability estimations, RDM identifies conditions that would make an investment vulnerable and seeks to strengthen the investment against those specific eventualities.
• The document categorizes investments into three types based on their relationship to climate risk: 'no/low regret' investments (beneficial in any scenario), 'climate change risky' investments (profitable only if climate change does not occur), and 'climate change justified' investments (profitable specifically under climate change scenarios, acting as a form of insurance).
• Many African countries face an 'adaptation deficit,' which is a backlog of necessary investments required to protect against existing levels of climatic fluctuations, separate from future climate change projections.
• The brief recommends a specific screening process for development portfolios to assess climate risk. This involves an initial checklist (evaluating factors like vulnerability to extremes and potential economic damage) followed by a detailed benefit-cost analysis using sensitivity testing under different climate scenarios.
• Certain types of water investments are identified as being particularly sensitive to climate change, including urban water supply systems, multipurpose infrastructure, engineering structures with long lifetimes, and systems susceptible to extreme climatic events.

APA

Climate and Development Knowledge Network (n.d.). Investing in water security for climate resilient growth and development. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/WaterSecurity_Brief4_pr3.pdf

Chicago

Climate and Development Knowledge Network. Investing in water security for climate resilient growth and development. n.d. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/WaterSecurity_Brief4_pr3.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |title=Investing in water security for climate resilient growth and development |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/WaterSecurity_Brief4_pr3.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climateanddevelopmentknowledgenetworkndinvesting, author = {{Climate and Development Knowledge Network}}, title = {{Investing in water security for climate resilient growth and development}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/WaterSecurity_Brief4_pr3.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }