Coastal cities can battle the climate crisis by adaptation
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)'s latest report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability discusses coastal cities in great detail.
Impact on coastal cities
- Coastal cities , at the front of the climate crisis: Globally, coastal cities and settlements are at the front of the climate crisis having a direct impact on people and infrastructure.
- The major impact on cities include:
- Sea level rise along with the other climate risks like increasing saltwater intrusion which can render groundwater and soil and usable
- More severe cyclones which already have disastrous impact on infrastructure and lives.
- Frequent flooding due heavy rainfall events.
- Growing water scarcity and more frequent heat waves in some places.
- Concurrence of climate risks: Many of the climate risks occur concurrently in coastal cities , for instance tropical cyclones and storm surges coinciding with heat waves or urban droughts compounding the impact of the climate crisis.
- Impact on low income groups: The climate risks also intersect with an sustainable and unequal urbanization, increasing risks for low income and marginalized communities within coastal cities.
- Cascading effect on hinterland: It is important to note that what happens in coastal cities has a cascading effect on the hinterland as these places are critical nodes in global trade and food supply chains, house critical infrastructure and often sites with a tremendous cultural and historical significance.
Urgency for coastal adaptation
- Urgency for action: The key to coastal adaptation is the urgency for action, in coastal cities where risks are higher and increasing, delaying action reduces the choices they have to adapt.
- Expansion of cities: The space for conservation of mangroves and accommodation of more frequent floods or storm surges becomes narrower as the cities expand and new infrastructure is built.
- Opportunity for India: The Indian city‘s are uniquely positioned because it is estimated that about 80% of its built infrastructure in 2030 is yet to be built.
- It provides a tremendous opportunity for India to make sure that this infrastructure is climate resilient and does not lock our cities into unsustainable and risk prone pathways.
- Coalition for disaster resilient infrastructure(CDRI): CDRI is a step in the right direction, it is a multinational effort led by India to share global knowledge about infrastructure risk management, financing and recovery mechanisms.
- Multiple climate risks: there is a need to acknowledge that multiple climate risks are coming together in the cities of India.
- There are several feasible adaptation options, however a combination of these options would be more effective.
Road ahead
Adaptation Options
- Cities choose to ‘advance’ by reclaiming land or protect themselves by building sea walls or protecting mangroves that act as storm barriers.
- The government and civil society has been implementing such protection measures across India over the past two decades using bio shields, geotextile tubes and other site specific designs with different degrees of effectiveness.
Accommodative measures
- The other options for managing climate risks include accommodation measures like flood proofing buildings are investing in passive cooling to improve ventilation and reduce extreme heat impacts.
Retreat
- It means relocating specific population groups from hazard prone areas and moving critical infrastructure to avoid damage.
Hybrid approaches & nature-based solutions
- Hybrid approaches and ecosystem-based solutions: The science shows that hybrid approaches and infrastructure solutions like sea walls and ecosystem-based solutions like mangrove protection are most effective for reducing risk.
- Nature-based solutions: The nature-based solutions have co-benefits for multiple sustainable development goals.
- It is imperative that these hybrid approaches are enabled by three other critical levers of change:
- Adequate finances.
- Strong at flexible governance.
- Local participation and behavioral change.
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