Central America and the Caribbean is one of the most hazard-prone regions in the world. In addition, the region is heavily affected by poverty, unemployment, critical management of natural resources, and urban conglomeration in capital cities, especially in the Small Island Developing States,...

In the run-up to Rio+20, this Asia-Pacific Human Development Report takes a bold look at climate change and what can be done about it. Tackling head-on the issue of poverty reduction and human development, the Report argues that the option to grow now, clean up later no longer exists for...

This paper explores whether the health risks related to air pollution and temperature extremes are spatially and socioeconomically differentiated within three Latin American cities: Bogota, Colombia, Mexico City, Mexico, and Santiago, Chile. Based on a theoretical review of three relevant...

This article examines the causes of urban earthquake vulnerability in Gujarat, based on the case study of Ahmedabad city which was affected in the 2001, Gujarat earthquake. This paper argues that the non-compliance of regulations which causes urban vulnerability cannot be corrected merely by...

Robust Ordinal Regression (ROR) supports Multiple Criteria Decision Process by considering all sets of parameters of an assumed preference model, that are compatible with preference information elicited by a Decision Maker (DM). As a result of ROR, one gets necessary and possible preference...

The increase in the frequency and magnitude of disasters triggered by earthquakes in different regions of the Earth is a major challenge to contemporary societies. The awareness that disasters and risk are processes structured on spatial–temporal interactions maintained at the...

The present paper proposes a spatial multicriteria approach for supporting decision makers in the siting process of a waste incinerator plant in the Province of Torino (Italy). Municipal solid waste management is an intrinsically complex problem because it involves different interconnected...

The involvement of multiple decision makers in water resources management can be very complex, involving the possibilities of conflicts amongst the stakeholders and the influence of powerful members over the preference of others. The inherent characteristic of decisions also increases this...

This paper describes the multicriteria process used to evaluate flood control options for the catchment of Livramento creek in the peninsula of Setúbal, in Portugal. In the structuring phase, the environmental, social, and technical dimensions were identified. The MACBETH approach - Measuring...

In this paper we develop a GIS-based multicriteria flood risk assessment and mapping approach. This approach includes flood risks which are not measured in monetary terms; it shows the spatial distribution of multiple risks, and it is able to deal with uncertainties in criteria values and to...