从风险到韧性：帮助南亚居民与企业适应气候变化.pdfVIP

SouthAsiaDevelopmentMatters

FromRisk

toResilience

HelpingPeopleandFirms

AdaptinSouthAsia

MeganLang,JonahRexer,SiddharthSharma,

andMargaretTriyana,Editors

Advancepraisefor

FromRisktoResilience

Poorpeoplearepoorbecausemarketsfailthemandgovernmentsfailthem.Governmentsintervene

tocorrectmarketfailures,suchasexternalitiesorpublicgoods,butthese,inturn,create

governmentfailures,suchasunaccountableserviceprovidersorelitecaptureofpublicresources.

Thechallengeofpovertyreductionistodesignactionsthatcorrectgovernmentfailureswithout

recreatingthemarketfailuresthepoliciesweremeanttoaddress,andvice-versa.

TheseprinciplesunderpinthisremarkableandrefreshingbookonclimateadaptationinSouth

Asia,themostvulnerableregionontheplanet.Thebookstartsbyaskinghowtheprivatesector—

householdsandfirms—isadaptingtohighertemperaturesandmorefrequentextreme-weather

events.Theauthors’motivation,namelythatallSouthAsiangovernmentslackfiscalspaceand,

therefore,theprivatesectorshouldundertakeadaptation,isnotnecessary.Evenifthese

governmentshadfiscalsurpluses,theprivatesectorshouldleadbecausethereisnoobviousmarket

failureinadaptation.Whenafirminstallsaceilingfanorahouseholdreinforcesitswalls,thefirm

orhouseholdbenefits.Asthereportshows,firmsandhouseholdsareundertakingsuchadaptation

measures.Butthesepeoplemaynothaveaccesstothemostup-to-dateinformationaboutrising

heatorstormfrequency.Thisinformationisapublicgoodandsothereisacaseforthe

governmenttoprovideitatthisstage.However,oncethisinformationbecomesmainstreamed,

thereisnoneedforthegovernmenttobeinvolved,justasfinancialinvestorsgettheirinformation

fromnon-governmentsourc