Asia’s Coastal Cities Face Challenge of Rising Seas

Rising sea levels means many cities will face increased flooding, stronger storm surges and unpredictable weather.

With rising sea levels the coastal cities are in critical danger. Seen here, Chennai during recent floods(Photo: PTI)

The future will be a watery one for some of the world’s biggest cities.

A predicted increase in sea levels means many cities will face increased flooding, stronger storm surges and unpredictable weather. How well coastal cities can cope will dramatically affect their quality of life and economic destiny.

Scientists generally agree seas will rise an average of 1 meter (3 feet) this century. If the Paris climate talks cannot steer the world from its current path toward a 4 degree Celsius rise in temperatures, sea rise will subsume coastlines that are now home to 470 million to 760 million people.

But with a certain amount of sea rise considered inevitable as warmer temperatures melt glaciers and expand oceans, cities will have to adapt quickly to spare investors losses and citizens from disaster. Global losses from flooding in coastal cities are already averaging about $6 billion a year and those losses could rise to $52 billion annually by 2050.

Mumbai’s Dharavi slums. (Photo: AP)

Asia is particularly vulnerable because it is already fighting with poverty and illiteracy.

Mumbai, India’s finance capital, has an annual gross domestic product of about $151 billion, along with some 2.8 million people crammed into low-lying slums that flood regularly.

But the economic contribution of these cities is crucial. Highly vulnerable Dhaka alone makes up more than half of Bangladesh’s GDP of $150 billion. Frequently flooded Manila accounts for two-third of the Philippines’ economy, while Shanghai’s $594 billion GDP or Hong Kong’s $416 billion are bigger than the economies of many nations.

In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a vision of 100 smart cities equipped with advanced planning and technology. But little has been said about upgrading existing cities, where some 400 million Indians still cope with shoddy infrastructure, makeshift housing, trash-clogged drainage systems and inadequate sewage treatment.

The rise in sea levels is at a very critical juncture. But we continue to build housing and infrastructure along the coast. Society does not seem to be cognisant of the risks.

A flooded Chennai airport. (Photo: PTI)

Chennai is still drying out from monsoon flood-waters that subsumed the southern Indian city last week, largely due to chaotic urban planning that compromised its storm drains. The city’s international airport, which sits on a dry river bed, was forced to close for days.

Asia has seven of the 10 megacities with the highest number of people at risk of being displaced, the report says: Shanghai, Hong Kong, Kolkata and Mumbai, Dhaka, Indonesia’s Jakarta and Vietnam’s Hanoi.

World leaders have suggested that businesses and government and pushing hard for a strong action plan to price pollution and invent in real wealth.

Countries and businesses that are preparing for climate change could reap considerable financial benefits. Improvement in living conditions will directly enhance the competitiveness of a city.

Shanghai, with an annual rainfall of about 20 percent higher the global average has constructed more than 520 kilometers of protective sea walls protecting the city from typhoons and also to guard against rises in sea level over the coming century.