Climate change adaptation in urban water management: The need of integrated approaches to managing flood risks

Transcription

1 Climate change adaptation in urban water management: The need of integrated approaches to managing flood risks Sarantuyaa Zandaryaa, PhD Division of Water Sciences, UNESCO

2 Background Managing urban floods to reduce impacts on people, economy and the environment is of importance to UNESCO. Urban Water Management Programme of UNESCO s International Hydrological Programme UNESCO intersectoral platform on climate change

3 UNESCO s work on urban water management Building and maintaining the knowledge base for sustainable urban water management Promoting innovative and sustainable solutions to address urban water problems Moving from urban drainage modelling towards Integrated Urban Water Management

4 UNESCO-IHP Urban Water Series Series editors: Čedo Maksimović, Imperial College, London, United Kingdom J. Alberto Tejada-Guibert, UNESCO Sarantuyaa Zandaryaa, UNESCO Focusies on the development of integrated approaches to sustainable urban water management, the series targets practitioners, policy-makers and educators. Co-published by UNESCO and CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group

5 UNESCO-IHP Urban Water Series

6 UNESCO action on climate change Research/Assessments Adaptation Mitigation Monitoring World Climate Research Programme WCRP World Water Assessment Programme WWAP GRAPHIC Groundwater Resources Assessment Quo Vadis Aquifers? Ecohydrology Worldwide Hydrogeological Mapping and Assessments Hydrology for Environment, Life and Policy Flow regimes / experimental and network data Global Coral Reef / Research and Capacity-building Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics The Ocean in a High-CO2 World Climate Change and evidence in the Geological Record Earth System Physics Climate Research (ICTP) Decade of Education for Sustainable Development Groundwater/Emergency situations Water Programme for Environmental Sustainability Integrated Urban Water Modelling and Management Water and Development Information for Arid Lands Sustainable Management of Marginal Drylands Global Change in Mountain Regions Adaptation to Climate and Coastal Change/West Africa Climate Impacts on Coastal Biodiversity and Ecosystems World Heritage and Climate Change Global Network of Geoparks International Year of Planet Earth Natural Disaster Reduction Programme Village-level Documentation and Transmission of Local Environmental Knowledge Indigenous People in Protected Areas Sandwatch: Science in Action University Consortium of Small Island States / climate curriculum Quranic Botanic Gardens Project The Camel Farm Project Reporting Climate Change Renewable Energy Programme Bio-Carbon Sequestration and Biodiversity Conservation to Combat Climate Change Ocean Carbon Sequestration Watching Brief Technology and Climate Change: Challenges and Opportunities for Mitigation and Adaptation Global Ocean Observing System Global Sea Level Observing System Global Climate Observing System Global Terrestrial Observing System GCOS-GOOS-WCRP Ocean Observations Panel for Climate Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project More than 40 Programmes / 55 Staff Members Research and Assessments Global Monitoring / Disaster Reduction Adaptation Science and Technology Mitigation, Economics, Renewable Energy Social Sciences / Indigenous Knowledge Natural and Cultural World Heritage Education, Information, Outreach

7 Climate Change The science is clear: the warming of the earth s climate is unequivocal and attributable to human activities. Severe impacts of climate change are already being felt, leading to human suffering in particular in developing countries, and demand an urgent response. Economic assessments indicate that the cost of inaction will exceed the cost of taking early action, probably by several orders of magnitude. Source: UN Secretary-General s Policy Committee Meeting on Climate Change

8 Cities are at greater risk High population densities A high vulnerability of existing urban water systems and infrastructure

9 Climate change challenges in urban water management are manifold Increased flooding due to more frequent and intense storm events Increased vulnerability of water supplies due to droughts and prolonged dry periods Rising sea levels and increased saltwater intrusion Decreased water quality Impacts on aquatic habitat and fisheries

10 Are urban water systems ready to handle climate change impacts? Existing urban water systems are not up to the task of: coping with climate variability handling extreme weather events that are occurring with the increasing tendency in the frequency and intensity meeting future water needs of growing urban populations.

11 Dealing with climate change in urban hydrology Can historic hydrologic patterns be a reliable basis to forecast the future? Climate stationarity in hydrological modelling and forecating Is stationarity dead?

12 The sustainable management of urban flood risks is becoming an increasingly challenging task for cities.

13 Why cities are not effective in managing floods? Based on a (mono)-sectoral approach Heavily relies on hydraulic and engineering aspects of urban drainage and flood protection which usually aim to absolutely control floods (which is often unrealistic) Environmental, socioeconomic, land-use and planning aspects of flood management are often ignored

14 Highly engineered and investmentintensive infrastructure alone is not a sustainable solution to tackle urban flood risks.

15 What needs to be done Vulnerability assessment of cities to climate change and flood risks to identify, assess and prioritize the existing and future vulnerabilities Prioritization of required adaptation actions to prepare for the impacts of climate change to make cities more resilient to the effects of climate change

16 How Can Cities Adapt to Climate Change? Promote non-structural measures and natural protective measures Build green infrastructure to manage stormwater runoff Cooperate on climate change and flood risks research Ensure local stakeholders participation

17 Integrated approaches to urban flood risk management is a key element of sustainable urban water management.

18 Thank you!