Coastal cities vulnerable to climate change: report

Chennai:

The coastal cities in India, including Chennai, will be at risk from the impact of flooding due to rising sea levels and extreme weather conditions, according to a report Natural Disasters Saving Lives Today Building Resilience For Tomorrow.

The report, which was released in the city by Tim Fox, head of energy and environment at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said that India ranks second to Bangladesh facing high risk of disaster due to climate change.

He said that man-made changes have removed the natural barriers protecting against extreme natural events thereby increase the likelihood of disasters. These include human activities such as deforestation, swamp and marsh degradation, island development and sand dune removal.

The report highlights the trend of global urbanization which is projected to result in 75 per cent of world’s population living in towns and cities by 2050. Ninety-five per cent of the expansion in urban living is being anticipated in developing countries.

“This movement of population into areas such as coastal regions, flood plains and earthquake zones that are typically less resilient to extreme natural events, has been identified in the report as one of the factors along with degradation of the natural environment that is moving the world towards more natural disasters,” the report said.

The report states that by 2050, it is anticipated that an extra three billion people will be located in urban settings, with much of the growth taking place in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Interestingly, the report recommends more international development funding on building future resilience. “Currently, only four per cent of all international humanitarian aid is channeled to helping build resilience in disaster hotspots well below UN’s recommended 10 per cent,” the report states.

“As it is estimated that every $1 spent on making communities more resilient can save as much as $4 in disaster relief, recovery and reconstruction later,” the report added.

The report also stated that during the post-disaster besides adoption of new engineering techniques, codes of practice and building standards, local capacity must also be built for proper implementation, enforcement and maintenance. “This requires not just the transfer of technical engineering capability to local populations nbut also the political will by those in government for adoption and implementation in the long term,” the report added.