Planning for the impacts of sea level rise
AIMED AT: Policy makers PURPOSE: Focus is on adaptation to sea level rise, although some brief remarks on mitigation are included, as both strategies need to be combined to develop the most effective response to sea level rise. GEOGRAPHICAL AREA: Coastal areas worldwide TECHNICAL AREA: The concentration of population and assets, including many major cities, along the coasts; impacts of the sea level rise on these places BASIC STRUCTURE: Over the twentieth century, global sea level rose about 17 cm. While this change may seem small, it will have many significant effects, most particularly in terms of reducing the return periods of extreme water levels and promoting an erosive tendency for coasts. There are significant actual and potential impacts of relative sea level rise in deltas and in and around subsiding coastal cities in terms of increased water logging, flooding, and submergence, and the resulting need for management response. Planning for sea level rise is a multidimensional problem that crosses many disciplines and embraces natural, social, and engineering sciences. Sea level rise has important implications for coasts worldwide, but the actual outcome will depend on our responses, both in terms of mitigation and adaptation, and their successes or failures. Coastal cities worldwide will be a major focus for adaptation efforts because of their concentrations of people and assets and given their concentration of people and assets, and their ability to fund large investments. Developing countries will pose adaptation challenges, especially in deltaic areas and small islands, which are the most vulnerable settings. The issues tackled in the paper include: (1) How to best plan for the threat of sea level rise and its implications? (2) What are the major responses are possible? (3) How to carry out adaptation and mitigation responses.
Planning for the impacts of sea level rise.pdf
