"No Regrets" Approach to Decision-Making in a Changing Climate

The author proposes a 'no-regrets' framework for development agencies to help vulnerable countries adapt to climate change. This approach integrates disaster risk management (DRM), climate change adaptation (CCA), and social protection (SP) into 'adaptive social protection'. The author emphasizes the use of 'spatially enabled governance'—utilizing GIS, spatial data infrastructure (SDI), and ICT—to implement territorial planning, such as watershed management, to protect assets and livelihoods. The paper also advocates for a 'risk-adjusted Social Protection Floor' that guarantees basic needs while incorporating climate-related hazard triggers and innovative finance like weather-index insurance.

• A 'no-regrets' approach consists of actions that are economically, socially, and environmentally justifiable regardless of whether a specific natural hazard or climate change event occurs, thereby increasing the resilience of a system to handle hazards in an equitable and efficient manner.
• The author advocates for 'adaptive social protection', which integrates disaster risk management (DRM), climate change adaptation (CCA), and social protection (SP) to transform and protect the assets and livelihoods of poor and at-risk populations.
• Effective resilience building requires 'spatially enabled governance', which uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS), spatial data infrastructure (SDI), and information and communication technology (ICT) to integrate DRM, CCA, and SP into territorial planning, such as watershed management.
• The author proposes evolving the UN's 'Social Protection Floor' into a 'risk-adjusted SP Floor' that includes climate-related hazards and utilizes global risk pooling, transparent triggers for payments, and innovative finance such as weather-index insurance.
• People-centered Early Warning Systems (EWS) are critical to the integration of DRM, CCA, and SP, requiring four key elements: risk knowledge, monitoring and warning services, dissemination and communication, and response capacity.
• The World Bank's Ethiopia Productive Safety Nets Project serves as an example of this approach, combining community-based means testing for social protection with remote sensing and GIS for early warning and rapid response.

APA

Siegel, P. B. (2010). "No Regrets" Approach to Decision-Making in a Changing Climate. World Resources Institute. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-01/wrr-2010-11-question-3-response-4.pdf

Chicago

Siegel, Paul B. "No Regrets" Approach to Decision-Making in a Changing Climate. World Resources Institute, 2010. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-01/wrr-2010-11-question-3-response-4.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Siegel |first1=Paul B. |title="No Regrets" Approach to Decision-Making in a Changing Climate |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=2010 |url=https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-01/wrr-2010-11-question-3-response-4.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{siegel2010regrets, author = {Siegel, Paul B.}, title = {{"No Regrets" Approach to Decision-Making in a Changing Climate}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2010}, url = {https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-01/wrr-2010-11-question-3-response-4.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }