[DIPECHO Network] Climate Resilient Cities: A Primer on Reducing Vulnerabilities to Climate Change Impacts and Strengthening Disaster Risk Management in East Asian Cities

[Laxman Belbase]

Dear all,

Please find below the executive summary of the *"Climate Resilient Cities: A
primer on reducing Vulnerabilities to Climate Change Impacts and
Strengthening Disaster Risk Management in East Asian Cities"*. This Primer
is a tool for city governments in the East Asia Region to better understand
how to plan for climate change impacts and impending natural disasters
through sound urban planning to reduce vulnerabilities.

The full report can be downloaded from
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/EASTASIAPACIFICEXT/0,,contentMDK:21845641~pagePK:146736~piPK:226340~theSitePK:226301,00.html<http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/EASTASIAPACIFICEXT/0,,contentMDK:21845641%7EpagePK:146736%7EpiPK:226340%7EtheSitePK:226301,00.html>

My apology for crossposting

Yours
Laxman

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Climate Resilient Cities: A Primer on Reducing Vulnerabilities to Climate
Change Impacts and Strengthening Disaster Risk Management in East Asian
Cities* is prepared as a guide for local governments in the East Asia Region
to better understand the concepts and consequences of climate change; how
climate change consequences contribute to urban vulnerabilities; and what is
being done by city governments in East Asia and around the world to actively
engage in learning, capacity building, and capital investment programs for
building sustainable, resilient communities. The Primer is applicable to a
range of cities – from those starting to build awareness on climate change
to those with climate change strategies and institutions already in place.
An accompanying CD-ROM of City Profiles is included to assist cities to
understand in more detail what other cities are doing today.

It is now undeniably evident that the global climate is changing as a result
of humaninduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Increased levels of heat
trapped in the atmosphere have set off a process that is modifying weather
patterns, which in turn affect temperatures, sea levels, and storm
frequencies. This will impact cities and other urban areas, especially those
in coastal zones. Asia already experiences the greatest number of flood
events worldwide. Since the beginning of the 21st century, Asia has
experienced more than 550 floods affecting over 850 million people.2 Out of
China's estimated urban population of 400 million, 130 million live in
coastal cities that are vulnerable to sea-level rise.3 The high incidence of
hydro-meteorological and other disasters affecting urban areas, particularly
in vulnerable regions, is a challenge to local officials and their
communities in being prepared and proactive in reducing their GHG emissions
and in addressing increasingly frequent and extreme climate change events.

The world is at a unique moment in time. Three major movements are coming
together: urbanization, decentralization and the rise of domestic capital
markets. The way cities are managed to deal with their growth and the
increase of their vulnerabilities is very important in this context. Many
East Asian cities are also experiencing very rapid urbanization and
increasing decentralization. In 2004, for example, 40 percent of the world's
cement and 27 percent of its steel went primarily to build China's cities.4
Most East Asian cities therefore have much greater responsibility for their
increasing populations to prepare them for the consequences of climate
change, offer mitigation alternatives to current levels of GHG emissions,
and devise the capital improvement projects necessary for resilient cities.
The traditional sources of finance to cities from national government grants
and allocations for budget support are insufficient and inefficient. Due to
their increasing decentralization and increasing populations, most East
Asian cities have much greater responsibility with limited traditional
financial resources, but with unprecedented opportunity for domestic capital
markets to make cities less dependent on national government for financial
support. The access of funds through capital markets has begun to be
recognized as an important adaptation initiative.

The most adverse impacts of climate change are likely to be in urban areas
where people, resources, and infrastructure are concentrated. "In absolute
numbers, Asia is the epicenter of the current urbanization surge. China will
add at least 342 million people to its cities by 2030… and Indonesia, 80
million."5 An estimated 46 million people living in cities are at risk
yearly from flooding from storm surges in the East Asia Region.6 The
responsibility of responding to climate change impacts and consequences will
fall to city governments and their communities.Therefore a strong local
commitment and organization is required to deal with behavior and
technological change to reduce carbon emissions and the disasters climate
change consequences and regional threats represent. The response to climate
change impacts are in their essence urban governance and management issues.
Immediate action to reduce emissions will reduce future impacts but will not
eliminate those already initiated.

There are important linkages between sustainable development, climate change
impacts, and disaster risk management issues each city confronts. Dealing
with climate change has initially focused on national or regional plans to
reduce the contributions to global warming. But reducing GHG emissions is
only one of the important efforts cities must understand. Disasters that
result from and/or can be made worse by climate change can undermine decades
of growth through a single catastrophic event. Management of urban areas and
their growth and spatial planning requires the consideration of disaster
risk management and the climate change agenda as essential components of
urban development. Climate change will increase the frequency of disasters
in cities. Effective disaster risk management is an important component of
climate change adaptation.

Climate change will require concerted actions by local governments and their
partners to manage a changing and more invasive environment. The need to
promote changes in technologies, citizen participation, and urban growth
patterns are equally important parts of the behavior of the urban
populations that contribute to global warming and create vulnerabilities to
disasters. Mainstreaming these issues into policy and practice leads to a
holistic rather than sectoral engagement in climate change. Climate change
and disaster risk management require concerted international cooperation and
city partnerships. Indeed, this Primer reflects joint cooperation between
three international agencies – the World Bank, the Global Facility for
Disaster Reduction and Recovery, and the UN's International Strategy for
Disaster Reduction. This team hopes the Primer increases awareness,
highlights successful practices that can be adapted to East Asian cities,
and initiates a dialogue for action. The World Bank and its partners stand
ready to assist client countries and their cities with technical and
financial assistance as they move toward creating institutions, strategies,
and infrastructure to combat climate change and natural disasters.

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