SEA START Regional Center receives research award for Coastal Cities at Risk Program

The program will be carried out in partnership with Canada's University of Western Ontario for a total of 5 years.

ABSTRACT OF RESEARCH PROGRAM
Many low-lying coastal, river-delta mega-cities, already stressed by rapid population growth and economic, social, health and cultural difficulties, are now increasingly vulnerable due to climate change. The overall objective of the Coastal Cities at Risk (CCaR): Building Adaptive Capacity for Managing Climate Change in Coastal Megacities Program is to develop the knowledge base and enhance the capacity of mega-cities to successfully adapt to and when necessary cope with risks posed by the effects of climate change, including sea level rise, in the context of urban growth and development.

The CCaR project will take an interdisciplinary approach involving natural, engineering, socio-political-economic and health scientists and will build upon and partner with leading programs: START; Integrated Research on Disaster Risk; and other Canadian and international projects. The cities (Bangkok, Lagos, Manila, Vancouver) were chosen to: have a range of climate-weather, socio-cultural-economic characteristics; be representative of other cities; and provide enhanced research opportunities through ongoing efforts.

The outputs will be: new integrated  knowledge on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction strategies and their socio- economic-health implications; integrated, interdisciplinary simulation models to develop, test and validate knowledge-based adaptation actions; and increased numbers of highly-qualified people, both academic and practitioners, through knowledge mobilization and translation. Workshops and follow-on projects with partners will result in this knowledge and capacity being transferred to a broad selection of communities in Canada, Africa and Asia. CCaR Program outcomes will include enhanced adaptation and risk reduction capacity, better planned safer cities and reduced socio-economic impacts as the climate changes.

For more information: http://start.or.th