The effects of adaptation and mitigation on coastal flood impacts during the 21st century: an application of the DIVA and IMAGE models

The study finds that while both mitigation and adaptation reduce coastal flood impacts, adaptation (specifically dike upgrades) is significantly more effective at reducing the number of people flooded and overall costs. However, mitigation remains critical for less-wealthy and small island countries where flood costs represent a higher percentage of national GDP.

• In an unmitigated scenario without adaptation, 168 million people are projected to be flooded annually by 2100. Mitigation reduces this figure by a factor of 1.4, adaptation by a factor of 461, and the combination of both by a factor of 540.
• Global annual flood costs, including dike maintenance and residual damage, are projected to reach USD 210 billion by 2100 in an unmitigated scenario without adaptation. Mitigation reduces these costs by a factor of 1.3, adaptation by a factor of 5.2, and combined efforts by a factor of 7.8.
• While global annual flood costs relative to GDP are projected to fall from 0.06% to 0.01–0.03% when adaptation is applied, mitigation is specifically critical for small island countries and less-wealthy nations where flood costs can reach several percent of national GDP.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2012). The effects of adaptation and mitigation on coastal flood impacts during the 21st century: an application of the DIVA and IMAGE models. https://www.sei.org/publications/the-effects-of-adaptation-and-mitigation-on-coastal-flood-impacts-during-the-21st-century-an-application-of-the-diva-and-image-models/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. The effects of adaptation and mitigation on coastal flood impacts during the 21st century: an application of the DIVA and IMAGE models. 2012. https://www.sei.org/publications/the-effects-of-adaptation-and-mitigation-on-coastal-flood-impacts-during-the-21st-century-an-application-of-the-diva-and-image-models/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=The effects of adaptation and mitigation on coastal flood impacts during the 21st century: an application of the DIVA and IMAGE models |date=28 August 2012 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/the-effects-of-adaptation-and-mitigation-on-coastal-flood-impacts-during-the-21st-century-an-application-of-the-diva-and-image-models/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2012effects, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{The effects of adaptation and mitigation on coastal flood impacts during the 21st century: an application of the DIVA and IMAGE models}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2012}, month = aug, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/the-effects-of-adaptation-and-mitigation-on-coastal-flood-impacts-during-the-21st-century-an-application-of-the-diva-and-image-models/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }