Are we expecting too much from the private sector in flood adaptation? Scenario-based field experiments with small- and
- PDF / 1,430,096 Bytes
- 20 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 96 Downloads / 130 Views
Are we expecting too much from the private sector in flood adaptation? Scenario-based field experiments with small- and medium-sized firms in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Roxana Leitold 1
& Javier Revilla Diez
1
& Van Tran
2,3
Received: 22 June 2020 / Accepted: 5 October 2020/ # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract
Adaptive governance approaches emphasize the crucial role of the private sector in enabling climate change adaptation. Yet, the participation of local firms is still lacking, and little is known about the conditions potentially influencing firms’ adaptation decisions and mechanisms that might encourage private sector engagement. We address this gap with an empirical analysis of the willingness of manufacturing small- and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) to participate financially in collective flood adaptation in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), a hotspot of future climate change risk. Using scenario-based field experiments, we shed light on internal and external conditions that influence potential investments in collective initiatives and explain what role SMEs can play in flood adaptation. We find that direct impacts of floods, perceived self-responsibility, and strong local ties motivate firms to participate in collective adaptation, whereas government support, sufficient financial resources, and previously implemented flood protection strategies reduce the necessity to act collectively. Here, opportunity costs and the handling of other business risks play a decisive role in investment decisions. This study shows that although private sector engagement appears to be a promising approach, it is not a panacea. Collective initiatives on flood adaptation need formal guidance and should involve local business networks and partnerships to give voice to the needs and capacities of SMEs, but such initiatives should not overstretch firms’ responsibilities. Keywords Private sector adaptation . Climate change . Flood response . Small- and medium-sized firms . Field experiments . Vietnam
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-02002888-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
* Roxana Leitold r.leitold@uni–koeln.de Extended author information available on the last page of the article
Climatic Change
1 Introduction Floods are a growing economic concern, particularly for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are a driving force for economic development, employment, and value creation (Halkos et al. 2018). Although the private sector has always suffered from climate disasters (UNISDR 2013), its responses have often been disregarded in global reports on climate change assessments (e.g., IPCC Assessment Reports before 2014). Just recently, the interplay between climate disasters and economic impacts, such as those caused by flooding, has triggered vigorous debates. Following the Fifth IPCC Assessment Report of Working Group II, the critical role that the private sector can play in risk reduction has gained fresh momentum
Data Loading...
