Adapting to Climate Change in Urban Areas: The Possibilities and Constraints in Low- and Middle-income NationsIIED, 2007 - 112 pages This paper discusses the possibilities and constraints for adaptation to climate change in urban areas in low- and middle-income nations. These contain a third of the world's population and a large proportion of the people and economic activities most at risk from sea-level rise and from the heatwaves, storms and floods whose frequency and/or intensity climate change is likely to increase. Section I outlines both the potentials for adaptation and the constraints. Section II discusses the scale of urban change. Section III considers direct and indirect impacts of climate change on urban areas and which nations, cities and population groups are particularly at risk. This highlights how prosperous, well-governed cities could generally adapt, but most of the world's urban population lives in cities or smaller urban centres ill-equipped for adaptation. A key part of adaptation concerns infrastructure and buildings - but much of the urban population in Africa, Asia and Latin America lack the infrastructure to adapt. Most international agencies have long refused to support urban programmes, especially those that address these problems. Section IV discusses innovations by urban governments and community organizations and in financial systems that address such problems, including the relevance of recent innovations in disaster-risk reduction for adaptation. It notes how few city and national governments are taking any action on adaptation. Section V discusses how local innovation in adaptation can be encouraged and supported at national scale, and the funding needed to support this. Section VI considers the mechanisms for financing this and the larger ethical challenges that achieving adaptation raises - especially the fact that most climate-change-related urban (and rural) risks are in low-income nations with the least adaptive capacity, including many that have contributed very little to greenhouse-gas emissions. |
From inside the book
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... Effects of increased climate variability and change on the urban poor............................................. 43 Who is most at risk? Differentials by location, income-level, age and gender How are the urban poor presently adapting ...
... Effects of increased climate variability and change on the urban poor............................................. 43 Who is most at risk? Differentials by location, income-level, age and gender How are the urban poor presently adapting ...
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Contents
I INTRODUCTION | 1 |
II BACKGROUND | 6 |
III UNDERSTANDING VULNERABILITIES OF CITIES AND THE URBAN POOR TO CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND CHANGE | 15 |
IV IDENTIFYING INNOVATIVE LOCALCITY ADAPTATIONS TO CLIMATE CHANGE | 50 |
V UNDERSTANDING SCALES FOR ACTION | 68 |
VI NEXT STEPS | 88 |
Urgent and immediate adaptation needs from NAPAs urban projects | 94 |
REFERENCES | 98 |
Recent publications from IIEDs Human Settlements | 108 |
Common terms and phrases
Abidjan adaptation to climate adaptive capacity Africa Asia Bangladesh building Cavite City cent climate change climate variability coastal zone cope David Satterthwaite Dhaka Disaster Risk drainage Earthscan economic effects Environment and Urbanization estimates extreme weather events funding Global Hardoy high-income nations households housing impacts of climate income increase India informal settlements infrastructure and services instance institutional international agencies investment IPCC issues lack land Lankao Latin America livelihoods living London low-income McGranahan middle-income nations Millennium Development Goals million mitigation Mitlin Mumbai municipal NAPA Nouakchott planning policies programmes projects provision for water rainfall reduce risks regions resilience response risk from climate risk from floods risk reduction Romero Lankao rural Satterthwaite Satterthwaite 2001 sea-level rise slum Stern Review storm surges UN-Habitat UNFCCC urban areas urban centres urban development urban poor urban populations water and sanitation World Bank