Each of the following issues must be addressed by flood mitigation strategies. For which issue is it the most difficult to assign monetary values to the cost and benefits of flood mitigation strategy

Protecting ecosystems
Protecting homes and businesses
Protecting infrastructure (roads and bridges)
Protecting communication systems

1 answer

Among the issues listed, the most difficult to assign monetary values to the costs and benefits of flood mitigation strategies is protecting ecosystems.

Ecosystems provide a range of services that are often hard to quantify in economic terms, such as biodiversity, water filtration, carbon storage, and recreational benefits. While approaches like contingent valuation and other methods can estimate the economic value of ecosystem services, these valuations can be highly subjective and variable. In contrast, the costs associated with protecting homes, businesses, infrastructure, and communication systems can typically be more easily quantified based on repair or replacement costs, insurance values, and economic impacts from downtimes.