Port Cities at Risk of Climate Change-Induced Coastal Flooding
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 12. 8.07
Image courtesy of Don McPhee
According to a new report ranking the world's cities in the order of which will be most vulnerable to coastal flooding by 2070, all but one of the 10 were found to be in developing countries in Asia. The combined effects of climate change, urbanization and population growth are expected to put cities like Kolkata, Mumbai, Dhaka, Guangzhou, Ho Chi Minh City, Shanghai and Miami at great risk of flooding, potentially exposing close to a hundred million residents.
The study, conducted by the University of Southampton, Risk Management Solutions, CIRED/Meteo-France and the OECD, found that 38% of the world's largest port cities were located in Asia and that 27% were located in deltaic settings, putting them at greater risk of being flooded. For more information about the study (and some gorgeous pictures), check out the full slideshow here.
Via ::Guardian Unlimited: Global port cities under threat (news website)
See also: ::Five Asian Nations To Study How To Cope With Floods, ::Floods, Monsoons, Heat Waves, Drought: Climate Change In Asia Now, ::What Will Mark The Beginning of The End Of Global Trade? - Climate Change.
How about Dubai?
Surely the richest country in the world, and entirely built on sealevel sand...
We should be screaming from the hilltops in the U.S. about the risk to the American cities listed in this report - and not just Miami, but also New Orleans, New York-Newark, St. Petersburg-Tampa, and Virginia Beach. All are listed as having billions of dollars at risk from flooding from increased sea levels and intensified storm events caused by climate change. Even the insurance community doesn't quite know how it will respond to this risk - or how it will pay for it.
Maybe this can help the U.S. start to realize how vulnerable even it is to the ravages of global warming!
-GreenOx
www.greenox.blogspot.com