By Alina Haddad
9 October 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: According to the most recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), nearly 200 million people worldwide live in high risk coastal flooding zones. Climate change has increased the number of floods, storms, landslides, and cyclones and people living on coasts are hardest hit by these natural disasters. The most vulnerable populations live in the developing world on mega deltas, Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and cities by the sea, such as Dhaka, Jakarta, Mumbai and Shanghai,. In South Asia alone, the number of people at risk exceeds 60 million.
“Flooding is already on the rise due to increasing population living in flood plains, and climate change will make floods more frequent and severe, with an impact on deltas. The recent floods in Bangladesh, Nepal, and India are glimpses of a future that we need to start adapting to now,” Salvano Briceno, Director of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) in Geneva, said.
Brigitte Leoni, Media Relations Officer at the UNISDR, told MediaGlobal why a majority of threatened populations live in the developed countries. “There are two reasons. First, more people are living in flood plains because there is no urban planning and people are not told that they are building in flood zones. Secondly, there is a growing scarcity of land. More people want to live in cities, forcing people to build their houses on cheaper, more dangerous land. Uncontrollable urbanization is feeding the growth of slums, reinforcing poverty, reducing community resilience, increasing disaster risk, and diminishing cities abilities to deal with disasters. The fact is that more cities are on coasts, exposing more people to future floods.”
In expanding areas, 50 to 70 percent of construction is informal or illicit. In Quito, Ecuador, officials recognize 60 percent of construction as informal. Likewise, in Mumbai, India, officials estimate that 50 percent of the population live in informal housing or slums.
Leoni continued, “The poor are the most vulnerable [to natural disasters] because they have the least means to adapt. They have no property insurance and little savings.”
“Risk assessments, evacuation plans, education and not building in flood prone areas, are some of the many cost-effective and reliable ways to prevent flooding from turning into a disaster. Many non-structural measures are within the financial means of most countries although they do require strong community participation,” said Briceno.
The UNISDR recommends disaster risk policies as a cost effective solution to reduce the negative impact of urban flooding. It also declared that states must begin adapting to climate change by implementing four measures.
Firstly, set up early warning systems that reach all people. Secondly, they must protect important infrastructures such as hospitals, schools, and water supplies. New Zealand has already put this into action, pairing engineers with local governments to strengthen infrastructure such as city drainage systems to withstand intense rainstorms. Thirdly, states must increase food security through adapted crops. The floodplains of Mahanadi, India, have responded by cultivating a variety of paddies that are tolerant to water stagnation, in turn reducing agricultural output loss. Also, Burkina Faso is researching new drought-resistant millet and sorghum to grow as rainfall decreases. Lastly, states are recommended to develop innovative insurance and financial schemes as responses to the aftermath of potential natural disasters.
According to the UNISDR, the only way to adapt to climate change is to use the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), which was adopted in 2005 by 168 countries. “The HFA is a unique guide for making cities resilient to hazards, investing in urban planning, respecting building codes, and controlling the development of illegal settles. It integrates disaster risk reduction policies in city planning, land use, urban planning, social services, emergency planning and public works,” Leoni explained.
On 30 September, Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, convened a ministerial meeting about applying the HFA to disaster risk reduction as a core element of adapting to climate change. “We must not delay. If we are too slow to adapt to climate change, we risk making disasters even more catastrophic than they need to be. We must draw on the Hyogo Framework for Action and disaster risk reduction knowledge to protect the world’s most vulnerable populations against climate change,” stated Ban.
Cities who have implemented HFA have had positive results such as Marikina City in the Philippines. The Markina City flood mitigation programme, managed and executed by the City’s Engineering Department, has dramatically decreased flood exposure to residences, businesses, and essential facilities. The locally government funded project has reduced flooding from 27.52 percent in 1992 to 19.04 percent in 2004.
“Improving the life of slum dwellers around the world is a way to reduce the negative impact of disasters on the most vulnerable. This process involves poverty reduction, land use planning, and community participation that leads to capacity building of these groups,” said Leoni.
In Bogota, Columbia established a Bogota’s Resettlement Programme for families living in high-risk zones. The programme incorporated three components: relocation, improving livelihood conditions, and implementing environmental rehabilitation actions to avoid new occupation of the evacuated lands. In the city of Bolivar alone, a total of 3,033 families subscribed to the programme and were relocated.
“Cities cannot do it alone. They need the support of the international community and more resources and authority from their own governments. Solutions must be city specific and involve local institutions. More and more local institutions are incorporating disaster risk reduction as an integral part of their responsibility toward their citizen” Leoni concluded.