Why invest in resilience?

The document highlights that Malawi loses approximately 1.7% of its GDP annually to droughts and floods, a rate significantly higher than the average for Least Developed Countries. It advocates for a 'triple dividend' approach to resilience—avoided losses, unlocked development potential, and co-benefits—noting that benefit-cost ratios for such investments can range from 3:1 to 50:1. The brief provides evidence from infrastructure, social protection, and climate-smart agriculture to support the claim that proactive resilience is more cost-effective than humanitarian aid.

• Extreme weather events in Malawi cause significant and frequent economic losses, with an estimated average annual loss of 1.7% of GDP due to combined droughts and floods, which is over five times the 0.3% average for Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
• Specific recent disasters have severely impacted Malawi's GDP: the 2015 floods reduced annual GDP growth by 0.6%, the 2016 drought had a cumulative impact of 5.6% of GDP, and the 2019 floods from cyclone Idai caused production losses costing 0.13% of GDP.
• Climate models predict continued warming and a higher likelihood of extreme rainfall events in Malawi, with economic implications projected to become significantly more severe after 2050.
• Resilience investments provide a 'triple dividend': the first is avoided losses (lives, infrastructure, and economic); the second is unlocked development potential (e.g., encouraging household savings and entrepreneurship); and the third is co-benefits from disaster risk management that contribute to development gains.
• Resilience investments are highly cost-effective, with benefit-cost ratios generally exceeding 3:1 and reaching as high as 50:1 depending on the sector.
• In the agriculture sector, drought-focused climate-smart interventions in 53 villages in Malawi's Mzimba district realized US$24 of net benefits for every dollar invested.
• Evidence from other regions shows that every US$1 spent on safety nets or resilience programming in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia results in net benefits between US$2.3 and US$3.3, and infrastructure resilience investments can yield a US$4 return for every dollar spent.

APA

Climate and Development Knowledge Network (2020). Why invest in resilience? https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Why-invest-in-resilience_A-BRACC-policy-brief.pdf

Chicago

Climate and Development Knowledge Network. Why invest in resilience? 2020. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Why-invest-in-resilience_A-BRACC-policy-brief.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |title=Why invest in resilience? |date=October 2020 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Why-invest-in-resilience_A-BRACC-policy-brief.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climateanddevelopmentknowledgenetwork2020why, author = {{Climate and Development Knowledge Network}}, title = {{Why invest in resilience?}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2020}, month = oct, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Why-invest-in-resilience_A-BRACC-policy-brief.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }