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date: 22 April 2025

How Perceptions of Risks Affect Responses to Climate Change: Implications for Water Resource Planninglocked

How Perceptions of Risks Affect Responses to Climate Change: Implications for Water Resource Planninglocked

  • Sonia AkterSonia AkterSonia Akter is Assistant Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. She graduated with a PhD in Environmental Management and Development from the Australian National University in 2010, and holds a MS degree in Economics from York University, Toronto, Canada. Her three key research interests are climate change mitigation and adaptation policy, agriculture and food security, gender equity and women empowerment. Web profile: https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/our-people/faculty/sonia-akter
  • , and Shaleen KhanalShaleen KhanalShaleen Khanal is a PhD student at the Lee Kwan Yew School of Public Policy in National University of Singapore. His research focuses on the spatial dimensions of inequality at both household and national level. His research particularly focuses on understanding how government policies might exacerbating such outcomes. Previously, he worked as a researcher for SAWTEE – a non-governmental thinktank working in areas of international trade and climate change.

Summary

The link between risk perception and risk response is not straightforward. There are several individual, community, and national factors that determine how climate change risk is perceived and how much of the perception translates to response. The nexus between risk perception and risk response in the context of water resource management at the individual, household, community, and institutional level has been subject of a large body of theoretical and empirical studies from around the globe. At the individual level, vulnerability, exposure, and cognitive factors are important determinants of climate change risk perception and response. At the community level, risk perception is determined by culture, social pressure, and group identity. Responses to risk vary depending on the level of social cohesion and collective action. At the national level, public support is a key determinant of institutional response to climate change, particularly for democratic nations. The level of global cooperation and major polluting countries’ willingness to curb their fair share of greenhouse gas emissions also deeply influence policymakers’ decisions to respond to climate change risk.

Subjects

  • Disaster Preparation and Response

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