Akhilesh Surjan

Climate Disaster Resilience: Focus on Coastal Urban Cities in Asia

Recognizing the ever-increasing vulnerability of coastal urban cities in Asia due to climate change impacts and variability and also due to fast-growing urban development, this study focusing on climate disaster resilience is conducted in order to measure the existing level of climate disaster resilience of the targeted areas using a Climate Disaster Resilience Index. The index is developed based on five resilience-based dimensions: natural, physical, social, economic and institutional. The scope of this study is limited to climate-induced disasters, such as cyclone, flood, heat wave, drought and heavy rainfall induced landslide. For each individual city case, resilience information is presented as overall resilience, and separate physical, social, economic and institutional resilience. Higher values of resilience are equivalent to higher preparedness to cope with climate and disasters and inversely. Based on the results, policy points and recommendations are suggested by the authors and provide encouragement of city governments’ engagements in specific cist services, institution and capacity building. Not only are outputs from this study useful for city governments, but they also provide valuable knowledge and information to other local and national stakeholders having a similar target: the enhancement of community resilience.

Chapter 2 Understanding Urban Resilience

Urban resilience is a fairly new but rapidly emerging area of interest. Academia as well as the professional and practitioner communities are increasingly engaged in understanding the characteristics of resilience in complex urban issues. The year 2007–2008 was a historical milestone in human history for two reasons. First, the percentage of urban population to total population in the world touched 50 percent; second, the works of climate scientists were recognized as being so significant that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2007. Both events are closely associated with and provide special impetus to further research into and understanding of urban resilience, which this chapter discusses further in the following sections.

Chapter 1 Overview of Urban Development and Associated Risks

Climate change is happening now. Climate-induced disasters are occurring in the Asia Pacific region, where a distinctly increasing trend has been observed in recent decades. This shows that the region is the most disaster prone, compared with other parts of the world. Studies on the causes of disaster in many affected regions suggest that in a typical disaster, cities with high population density see increases in mortality and number of people affected. Increased economic losses within the region are also inevitable. In most Asian countries, 65–90% of economic activities are concentrated in urban areas. Estimates indicate that two out of three people on the earth will live in urban areas by the year 2030. Unless appropriate measures are taken in these urban communities, disaster incidents will continue to increase. Urban communities are a main player to confront this increasing trend of climate-induced disasters.

Enhancing disaster resilience through local environment management: Case of Mumbai, India

Purpose – Persuading “urban communities” and “sustaining” environmental risk reduction measures among them, always remains a challenge. Disasters are generally perceived as one‐time, long return period, high impact events. Even in the disaster struck areas, as the time passes, people tend to overlook the miseries of the past and continue to create risk. This paper seeks to examine how neighborhood environmental issues bring communities together and also sustainably reduce risk in Mumbai.Design/methodology/approach – This diagnostic study is based on thorough literature survey backed with field visit to capture viewpoints of communities, local officials, civic society, etc. The urbanization pattern of Mumbai is elaborated with specific focus on city governance and recognizing environmental and disaster vulnerabilities. Recent flood in Mumbai is deconstructed to delve of specific role of communities and other stakeholders. Existing participatory mechanism known as ALM is construed to reflect on its role in ...

Risk and Vulnerability

The authors argue that sustainable development cannot be achieved without consideration of risk and vulnerability. Losses due to natural disasters, including those related to extreme climatic events, have been on the rise but risk and vulnerability are not equally distributed. Climate risk affecting both natural and human systems affects geographical regions to differing extents. Coastal areas where half of the world’s population and many major urban areas are located will bear the brunt of storms and sea level rise. Similarly, risks of flooding, drought etc. are unevenly distributed. Vulnerability is dependent on social, economic and political factors. In many ways, poor people are more vulnerable to climatic hazards, often living in exposed areas and substandard housing, having inadequate means to prepare for a recover from shocks. They are also vulnerable to slow-onset disasters. Vulnerability has also a psychological dimension and trauma caused by natural disasters can lead to long-standing psychological damage and a changed perception of the external world.

Expanding Coastal Cities: An Increasing Risk

Abstract Coastal cities are home to a significant proportion of the population of society. From time immemorial, people have been living on the coast to meet their various needs. However, over the last few decades, more people and infrastructure has moved to the coast than ever before. For example, in China, the number of people moving to coastal areas was three times higher than the national average, and in Asia in general, coastal cities have expanded on an unprecedented scale and are still growing. An extremely sophisticated and vast infrastructure is being developed in coastal areas of several Asian countries to expand production and trade opportunities. This chapter will discuss a few cases concerning coastal cities in Asia. It will include demographic expansion, trends in disaster risk, prevailing socioeconomic conditions, structure of local governance and its priorities in risk reduction activities, community engagement in risk reduction, and other aspects of selected cities. The chapter will also cover some recent initiatives in addressing risk in coastal communities and their merits in advancing the resilience of coastal cities.

Cities, Vulnerability, and Climate Change

Abstract Climate change is increasingly been recognized as one of the most serious threats to human society and to the socioecological systems that are so valued by humans. Curbing the emission of greenhouse gases is certainly an urgent need if we are going to address the root cause of climate change. However, the existing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is already sufficient to cause extreme climate-related events, as well as other anomalies during the next few decades. Cities occupy the center stage of discussion about the mitigation of greenhouse gases and adapting to the expected impacts of climate change. Cities in Asia in particular are already witnessing the impacts of climate change–induced disasters such as flooding, water stresses in summer, intense rainfall-induced landslides, and strong typhoons. Cities in Asia have great potential to incorporate strategies for reducing the root causes of climate change by changing people’s lifestyles, increasing 3R’s, enhancing resource efficiency, and other actions. Cities also must create strategies to combat increasing climate change–induced crises. From the reduction of poverty to the creation of new employment opportunities, these initiatives require cities to innovate and act smartly by encompassing climate change impacts.

Urban Disasters and Approaches to Resilience

Abstract Globally, the intensity and frequency of disasters are escalating and urban areas, where half of the world population lives, have been exposed to numerous disasters. Extreme events have hit urban areas in both developing and developed locations, but cities in the developing world have high vulnerability and low resilience. In the past, numerous cities were damaged by natural and human-induced disasters, with thousands of inhabitants either buried under debris or washed away by gushing water. Such disasters had impacted residential activities and put unprecedented impacts on city budgets because urban centers are the hub of industrial and commercial activities. Whenever a disaster hits an urban area, it creates widespread damage, and redirects budget allocation from development to emergency response. Currently, of 20 megacities in the world, 13 are in Asia, predominantly in the developing world. Cities in developing world are growing at an alarming rate, and as a consequence increases its vulnerability to numerous disasters. During the same period, the total population of Karachi, Pakistan, has grown by 80%, a remarkable increase. In these cities, over 37% of residents are living in slums and squatter settlements. As a consequence, the intensity and occurrences of urban disasters has increased, and authorities have been hard-pressed to cope with and build urban resilience to such events. The analysis in this chapter reveals that urban resilience is largely a reflection of resilient and resourceful citizens. The strong and committed involvement of citizens at the grass-roots level may result in cities that can withstand and react well to disasters.

Redefining urban ecosystems

The chapter tries to trace the development of concept of urban ecosystem as a problem-solving approach for urban problems, including the unwarranted problems caused by climate change. Urban management has increasingly shifted from infrastructure-based to a more regional-based approach. There has been a shift in the domain of urban ecosystem as well, from the established urbanized area to the aggregation of urban and surrounding rural area. Also, urban-rural linkages are given more attention in resource management in urban areas, thereby reducing the overall risk due to climate change. The chapter provides examples and challenges of urban ecosystem management from across the world.

Impact of Urban Expansion on Farmlands: A Silent Disaster

Globally, with increasing urbanization and economic growth, cities are expanding at an alarming pace, and built-up areas have increased, particularly in large urban centers of developing countries. This expansion has modified the use of land and, in most cases, has reduced the amount of productive farmland around these cities, which have been a “food basket” for urban dwellers in the past. This study focuses on the impacts of urban expansion on farmland in Asian cities, and it includes a detailed analysis of Peshawar, Pakistan, as a case study. In cities, due to changing climate, food security is an urgent priority due to rising food prices and increasing urban populations. This analysis reveals that urban areas have been growing at a rapid pace in recent years. It has been found that in the absence of planning controls, there has been tremendous unplanned urban expansion which has taken place in a leapfrog fashion, encroaching upon the best agricultural lands in the area and posing serious threats to food security and urban lungs. However, there is no clear agreement on the issue that how to control this unprecedented urban expansion over farmlands and to sustainably manage and save these lands.