Adapting Cities to Climate Change

by Bicknell, Jane; Dodman, David; Satterthwaite, David

• ISBN13: 9781844077458
• ISBN10: 1844077454
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-07-31
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Climate change is one of the most pressing issues affecting the world today. Although half of the world's population lives in urban areas, little consideration has been given to the effects that climate change will have on urban dwellers, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Yet these regions have most of the world's urban population, including most of its largest cities. Their urban centres already face a wide variety of environmental and development challenges, including large sections of their populations living in informal settlements, often on sites at risk from extreme weather, with large deficits in provision for water, sanitation and drainage. As noted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fourth Assessment, these are likely to exacerbate vulnerability to climate change. Even more importantly, very little attention has been paid to the issue of adaptation - preventing the loss of lives, livelihoods and assets in urban centres as temperatures and sea levels rise and as extreme events become more frequent and more intense. Yet while the concentration of people and economic activities in towns and cities can intensify their vulnerability, this same concentration provides the opportunity to build safe housing and protective infrastructure, create resilient livelihoods and develop urban systems that reduce risks. This volume brings together, for the first time, a wide-ranging and detailed body of information identifying and assessing risk, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in urban centres in low- and middle-income countries. Framed by an overview of the main possibilities and constraints for adaptation, the contributors examine the implications of climate change for cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and propose innovative agendas for adaptation. The book should be of interest to policy makers, practitioners and academics who face the challenge of addressing climate change vulnerability and adaptation in urban centres throughout the global South.

Table of Contents

List of Figures, Tables and Boxes	p. xi
About the Contributors	p. xv
Preface	p. xxi
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations	p. xxiii
Introduction
Adapting to Climate Change in Urban Areas: The Possibilities and Constraints in Low-and Middle-Income Nations	p. 3
Introduction	p. 3
The potential for adaptation	p. 4
The constraints on implementation	p. 5
The urban context	p. 11
Vulnerability	p. 19
Climate change and disasters	p. 21
The continuum of risk from everyday hazards to catastrophic disasters	p. 28
Building on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fourth Assessment Report	p. 30
Government roles and responsibilities	p. 34
Risk and Vulnerability for Cities
The Rising Tide: Assessing the Risks of Climate Change and Human Settlements in Low-Elevation Coastal Zones	p. 51
Introduction	p. 51
Climate change, coastal settlement and urban vulnerabilities	p. 52
Estimating population and human settlement patterns in low-elevation coastal zones (LECZs)	p. 55
The international distribution of low-elevation coastal settlement	p. 58
Changes in low-elevation coastal settlement between 1990 and 2000: The examples of China and Bangladesh	p. 68
Conclusions	p. 69
Climate Change and Coastal Cities: The Case of Mombasa, Kenya	p. 77
Introduction	p. 77
Vulnerability of Mombasa to climate change	p. 78
Climate change impacts in Mombasa	p. 80
Adaptation to climate change in Mombasa	p. 85
Conclusions	p. 90
Vulnerabilities and Responses to Climate Change for Dhaka	p. 93
Introduction	p. 93
Dhaka's contribution to global climate change	p. 95
The effects of climate change in Dhaka	p. 97
Affected sectors and vulnerabilities	p. 101
Response measures	p. 105
Conclusions	p. 108
The Vulnerability to Climate Change of Cotonou (Benin): The Rise in Sea Level	p. 111
Introduction	p. 111
Cotonou	p. 111
Cotonou's vulnerability to sea-level rise	p. 113
Impact of rising sea level	p. 114
Coastal erosion in Cotonou and the surrounding area	p. 114
Adapting to the rise in sea level and its consequences	p. 121
Conclusions	p. 124
The Vulnerability of Global Cities to Climate Hazards	p. 129
Introduction	p. 129
Framing vulnerability	p. 131
The case studies	p. 132
Conclusions	p. 151
Climate, Climate Change and Human Health in Asian Cities	p. 159
Introduction	p. 159
Climate change and health	p. 160
Climate, water supplies and sanitation and health	p. 160
High temperatures and heat wave events	p. 165
Longer-term changes and the future health of populations in cities	p. 167
Responding to climate change: Adaptation and health at the city level	p. 168
Conclusions	p. 169
Climate Change and Urban Children: Impacts and Implications for Adaptation in Low-and Middle-Income Countries	p. 175
Introduction	p. 175
Understanding the impacts upon children of climate change	p. 177
The implications for adaptation	p. 187
Conclusions	p. 192
Unjust Waters: Climate Change, Flooding and the Urban Poor in Africa	p. 201
Introduction	p. 201
The changing climate in Africa	p. 202
Trends in urban flooding in Africa	p. 203
Local case studies of urban flooding	p. 206
General guidelines on adaptations to climate change	p. 216
Responsibilities and actions	p. 218
Urban Poverty and Vulnerability to Climate Change in Latin America	p. 225
Introduction	p. 225
Vulnerability and adaptation in urban areas	p. 228
Possible ways forward	p. 238
The need for adaptation and development	p. 243
Case Studies on Adaptation
Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: Institutionalizing Climate Change at the Local Government Level in Durban, South Africa	p. 253
Introduction	p. 253
Climate change and the environmental management function	p. 255
Mainstreaming the climate change debate in Durban	p. 259
Conclusions	p. 269
Developing a Municipal Adaptation Plan (MAP) for Climate Change: The City of Cape Town	p. 271
Introduction	p. 271
Background to climate change	p. 272
Towards a framework for adapting to climate change at the municipal level	p. 273
Examples of potential current and future municipal climate-induced impacts for the city of Cape Town	p. 278
Conclusions	p. 285
Adapting to Climate Change: Water Management for Urban Resilience	p. 291
Introduction	p. 291
Instruments to manage variability, reduce vulnerability and build resilience	p. 293
The development context and constraints before climate change	p. 294
The challenges of climate change for water resources management	p. 295
Water resources costs: The added burden of adaptation	p. 298
Some practical challenges and responses	p. 301
Conclusions: Water resources management could be a lead sector in building urban resilience to climate change	p. 304
Moving Forward
Climate Change Risk: An Adaptation and Mitigation Agenda for Indian Cities	p. 311
Introduction	p. 311
India's RUrban transformation (2000-2050)	p. 312
Urban renewal, disaster management and climate change mitigation	p. 314
India's climate change risk exposure	p. 316
Composite multi-hazard risk adaptation	p. 322
Urban populations and elements at risk	p. 323
Urban vulnerability to climate change	p. 324
A possible urban climate change adaptation framework	p. 325
Institutional capacity for urban climate risk adaptation	p. 331
Building a mitigation agenda for Indian cities	p. 332
Conclusions	p. 333
International Funding to Support Urban Adaptation to Climate Change	p. 339
Introduction	p. 339
Funding for adaptation under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)	p. 340
The role of official development assistance (ODA) in funding adaptation	p. 345
Access to adaptation finance by urban stakeholders	p. 350
Conclusions	p. 353
Conclusions: Local Development and Adaptation	p. 359
Introduction	p. 359
Key themes	p. 360
Conclusions	p. 363
Index	p. 385
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