Innovative Approaches for Building Coastal Resilience 

Description

Coastal areas and deltas around the world are undoubtedly the most affected areas from the effects of climate change, including seal level rise and extreme weather events. Further, they are characterized by very fragile ecosystems, and are under excessive pressure from rapid economic development and urbanization. Recent studies have shown that, by the end of the century and without investments in adaptation, sea level rise would render most coastlines around the world exposed annually to the present-day 1-in-100-year floods, implying these areas will face unprecedented flood risk levels.  In particular, the consequences for small island development states (SIDS) will be dramatic. Climate change will amplify direct economic damages in SIDS from coastal flooding more than 14 times for high-emission scenarios. Coastal cities in Asia and the Pacific will be the most affected. By 2070, out of the 20 top cities ranked in terms of population exposed to coastal flooding, 14 of them will be located in Asia. Besides sea level rise, subsidence is aggravating the situation in several cities across Asia such as Bangkok, Dhaka, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, and Manila. Salinity intrusion in delta areas such as Bangladesh and Viet Nam and in small Pacific islands is also posing a sever threat to the availability of drinking water and agricultural activities. To address these challenges, it is imperative to explore innovative approaches to enhance coastal resilience, which are both robust and flexible, addressing the high level of risks and uncertainties linked to future climate and socio-economic scenarios. Such approaches require adopting long-term programmatic approaches for identifying, developing and financing investments in support of coastal resilience.

Objectives

This session aims to bring together scientists, local practitioners, government officials and financial institutions to share insights, challenges, experiences, and good practices in building coastal resilience.

Target participants

Government officials, private sector and NGO representatives, representatives from academia, knowledge and financial institutions representatives, other stakeholders on water

Event co-organizers / partners

• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands
• Kingdom of The Netherlands
• Green Climate Fund
• Youth Leaders for Environmental Action Federation 
• Government of Maldives