Cities must adapt to climate change to prevent flooding

Urbanisation across Bengaluru continues to be unchecked, maximising on the most the city has. Bengaluru is doing nothing for adaptation. Political system and will is not aligned with climate resilient policy. In fact, there has been no political stability to battle climate risk as 15 chief ministers have changed in the last 20 years - Anjal Prakash, Indian School of Business

New Delhi: With unprecedented floods in Bangladesh followed by Assam floods, extremely heavy rain in Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, parts of Rajasthan and Bengaluru in India, and the Pakistan deluge, climate experts say all calamities have shown how the quantum of extreme events has increased exponentially in South Asia.

The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) last year warned about the increase in extreme weather events across South Asia in the coming years if the emissions continue to be unchecked.

Asian urban areas are considered high-risk locations from projected climate change, extreme events, unplanned urbanisation and rapid land-use change, an expert said.

With increasing urbanisation, the cities are at greater risk as the volume of damage in terms of loss of human lives, property damage and economic losses are higher than in the rural areas. Cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Delhi and Chennai are home to millions of people and so high is the climate risk.

In the warming environment, urban flooding is a major threat to the cities and towns. Regional ecological challenges coupled with climatic variability have aggravated flood risks. Urban flooding that was primarily a concern of municipal and environmental governance has now attained the status of 'disaster'.

"Urbanisation across Bengaluru continues to be unchecked, maximising on the most the city has. Bengaluru is doing nothing for adaptation. Political system and will is not aligned with climate resilient policy. In fact, there has been no political stability to battle climate risk as 15 chief ministers have changed in the last 20 years," said Anjal Prakash, Research Director and Adjunct Professor, Bharti School of Public Policy, Indian School of Business and IPCC author.

According to the IPCC, urban climate resilient development is observed to be more effective if it is responsive to regional and local land use development and adaptation gaps and addresses the underlying drivers of vulnerability.

Several states across India are now working towards a climate action plan to fight climate change impacts. Mumbai has recently come out with one, aiming to reduce emissions.

Aarti Khosla, Director, Climate Trends, said: "People are increasingly understanding the implications of climate change and how these events are affecting them in real time now".

Climate change will not only worsen these events, but compounding disasters will destabilise growth and local governments. If decision makers fail to bring an integrated, inclusive planning to India's urban development, it will not only be counterproductive to the GDP linked development we aim for, but also lose out on investment opportunities to develop future-ready cities which have the adaptive capacity for increasing populations, she added.