Report warns major cities in emerging economies will have to cope with soaring climate risks
Some of the world’s fastest growing cities, including several of the most strategically important metropolises in the emerging economies of India, the Philippines and Indonesia, are facing soaring climate risks that could pose a major threat to economic growth.
A new report by Maplecroft says that Manila, Jakarta and Calcutta are all “at extreme risk” in the analyst firm’s index of 193 countries’ exposure to climate-related hazards, such as heat waves, flooding, water shortages and increasingly severe storms.
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The inclusion of Dhaka and Chittagong in Bangladesh and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia means that six of the world’s 20 fastest growing cities are facing extreme climate risks, while a further 10, including Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Karachi, Lagos and Guangdong, are rated high risk.
The report warns that, as the global population ticks towards seven billion, more people are forced to live on exposed flood plains or other marginal land, increasing the risk of conflict and mass migrations owing to dwindling natural resources and lack of basic amenities.
Dr Charlie Beldon, principal environmental analyst at Maplecroft, said that soaring climate risks pose a serious economic threat.
“The impacts of this could have far reaching consequences, not only for local populations, but on business, national economies and on the balance sheets of investors around the world, particularly as the economic importance of these nations is set to dramatically increase,” he argued.
At a national level, the index rates 30 countries as facing extreme risk, led by Haiti, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Madagascar, Cambodia, Mozambique, DR Congo, Malawi and the Philippines.
The UK and US are both at low risk, while China, sitting at 98th in the list, is considered a medium risk.
The report comes a week after the Berkeley Earth Project concluded that the average global land temperature has risen by around 1 degree C since the mid-1950s, corroborating other major studies by Nasa, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Met Office’s Hadley Centre.
(Source: www.businessgreen.com )