Nature Climate Change - Urban Coastal Flood Damages From $6 Billion 2005 To $1 Trillion 2050
According to a recent study published in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change, average aggregated flood losses in 136 coastal cities were about $6 billion in 2005. Without any adaptation — improvements to protections and other flood mitigation efforts — those losses could rise to $1 trillion by 2050.
The study uses a combination of figures, including flood level protections, infrastructure values, topography, and population density to create estimates for losses in 2050. The study uses a baseline of no flood adaption and two scenarios, about 7 inches of sea-level rise and 15 inches of sea-level rise, to show possible losses.
“The first conclusion highlights the danger from the fact that we think we’re protected by current protections, but these will be inadequate in the future because the sea level will change and it’s really dangerous to be protected by bad defenses,” explained Stephane Hallegatte, a senior economist at the World Bank. “It’s much better to have no defense than have bad defenses that are poorly designed.”
The study helps demonstrate that some investment in defenses will result in significant protection as sea levels rise. “With just $50 billion per year, you bring losses from $1 trillion to $50 billion,“ Hallegatte said.
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http://america.aljazeera.com/multimedia/2013/10/major-coastal-citiesfacebillionsinfloodlosses.html
