How do we prioritize when making decisions about development and disaster risk?

The document presents a framework for understanding the trade-offs inherent in development and disaster risk reduction (DRR), arguing that poorly planned development can increase vulnerability while disasters can erase development gains. It introduces five dimensions of trade-offs—aggregation, participation, equity, time, and risk—and demonstrates their application to the 'Build Back Better' concept to identify opportunities for more resilient, proactive governance.

• Development and disaster risk reduction (DRR) often exist in a contradictory relationship where development can increase risk through poor decision-making, and disasters can destroy development investments, creating a cycle of rebuilt vulnerability.
• The 'aggregation' dimension of trade-offs involves balancing competing goals, such as economic growth versus DRR, and is often influenced by external funding sources rather than actual needs, particularly in low and middle-income countries.
• The 'participation' dimension highlights that inclusive decision-making involving local governments and marginalized people can lead to long-term resilience, though it may face resistance from those benefiting from the status quo and can be less efficient.
• The 'equity' dimension focuses on the uneven distribution of benefits and risks, noting that in low and middle-income countries, disasters disproportionately impact low-income households, small businesses, and those in informal settlements.
• The 'time' dimension reveals a tendency to prioritize short-term gains over long-term risks, exemplified by fossil fuel use which boosts current economic output but creates future climate-related disaster repercussions.
• The 'risk' dimension addresses the challenge of prioritizing multiple interrelated risks and the potential for mitigating one risk to exacerbate another or create new risks.
• When applied to 'Build Back Better', the trade-off typology shows that top-down reconstruction often produces poorer results than inclusive processes and that time pressures during post-disaster response can lead to decisions based on insufficient information.

APA

Tuhkanen, H., & Han, G. (2018). How do we prioritize when making decisions about development and disaster risk? Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/tddr-dimensions-of-trade-offs-db-1812x--final.pdf

Chicago

Tuhkanen, Heidi, and Guoyi Han. How do we prioritize when making decisions about development and disaster risk? Stockholm Environment Institute, 2018. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/tddr-dimensions-of-trade-offs-db-1812x--final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Tuhkanen |first1=Heidi |last2=Han |first2=Guoyi |title=How do we prioritize when making decisions about development and disaster risk? |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=December 2018 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/tddr-dimensions-of-trade-offs-db-1812x--final.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{tuhkanen2018how, author = {Tuhkanen, Heidi and Han, Guoyi}, title = {{How do we prioritize when making decisions about development and disaster risk?}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2018}, month = dec, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/tddr-dimensions-of-trade-offs-db-1812x--final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }