By Gabrielle Wade
28 August 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: As the world continues to change, major cities globally face the same problem of how to protect their citizens from consequences of increasingly serious natural disasters.
In an effort to give cities the tools to defend themselves, the World Bank along with the United Nations Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) launched the report “Climate Resilient Cities: A Primer on Reducing Vulnerabilities to Climate Change Impacts and Strengthening Disaster Risk Management in East Asian Cities” this month in East Asia and the Pacific Region.
Cyclone survivors seek refuge in a monastery. (UN Photo/UNHCR)
World Bank for the East Asia and the Pacific Region Official Zoe Trohanis told MediaGlobal, “The Primer is participatory by design, involving self-assessment tools and resources for cities that offers a dual track approach of looking both at reducing the carbon footprint of a city — climate mitigation — and at reducing its vulnerabilities to climate impacts — adaptation.”
The Primer was officially launched first in Thailand during the Green Cities Workshop in July. East Asia is specifically vulnerable because it is expected that China, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam will suffer the most from rising sea levels in the future, according to the World Bank.
The effects of climate change directly impact the environment, changing coastal and marine systems as well as forest cover and biodiversity, which leads to reduced water, food and energy security, as well as displacement of people and loss of jobs. In East Asia and the Pacific Region alone, there are nearly two billion people, over half of them live in more at risk coastal areas and low-lying islands.
After such devastating events as the Indian Ocean tsunami and Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar and statistics from the International Red Cross and Red Crescent comparing the period 1994-1998 with 1999-2003, showing an increase in natural disasters of 142 per cent in developing countries, it is clear that governments need to take control to decrease cities’ vulnerability to results of climate change worldwide. The Primer is designed to help government officials if they decide to make the effort.
Cyclone Nargis damage. (UN Photo/Evan Schneider)
Because all cities face different challenges, Trohanis said, “The Primer provides guidance to cities on how to determine a set of development priorities, based on the city’s typology, that can form a targeted strategy and investment plan to reduce risks and increase resilience.”
The report was developed primarily by a group at the World Bank’s East Asia and Pacific Sustainable Development Department, including Zoe Trohanis, Federica Ranghieri, Fatima Shah and Neeraj Prasad, in addition to Ravi Sinha from the India Institute of Technology (IIT) and Earl Kessler, an independent urban management consultant. Consequently, it presents sound practices from case studies in several developing countries with cities similar to East Asian cities in terms of their environments, vulnerabilities, capacities and adaptability.
Such case studies include Hanoi, Vietnam, where flood vulnerability has been decreased due to upgrades in the dyke systems, reforestation in specific areas, and the development emergency strategies, and Bogota, Colombia, where officials learned that the best way to deal with certain risks that cannot be prevented is to create insurance mechanisms and other catastrophic risk financing instruments.
World Bank for the East Asia and the Pacific Region Lead Environmental Specialist Neeraj Prasad said, “Every city is different. You have to respond based on what your city is.”
To help cities figure out their specific needs, the Primer’s initial step is one of self-assessment to determine whether a city is a hot spot and conclude how it can increase resilience. Possible strategies can be simple, such as launching public awareness campaigns encouraging citizens to be more energy efficient and use public transportation, or more complex, such as retrofitting infrastructure to make it more durable against impact of severe natural events.
Since disasters hit both wealthy and poor countries, the Primer includes case studies from several developing countries and “emphasizes the use of “no regrets” policies, meaning sound urban planning that should be undertaken in any case and that does not necessarily involve increased budgets, but a change in approach and strategy,” according to Trohanis. In areas, such as Bogota, Colombia, where financing is necessary, countries with less money are encouraged to focus funds currently used for development on adapting to climate change needs.
Essentially, the Primer is a tool that, if used effectively, will help cities with prevention strategies for protection as well as teach them how to best deal with the negative impacts of natural disasters in the future. World Bank for the East Asia and Pacific Region Vice President Jim Adams said, “The degree of impact from which cities suffer from climate change will ultimately depend on the actions and initiatives local governments take to build a more climate-resilient city.”