chapter 4 - DRK

Strictly under embargo until Wednesday 22 September at 00:01 GMT (02:01 Geneva time)Several initiatives – including the C40 Climate Leadership Group and Cities forClimate Protection, sponsored by ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability – helpshare knowledge and good practices between cities involved in reducing their greenhousegas emissions. Urban authorities in low- and middle-income nations have alsobegun to exploit opportunities to generate ‘carbon credits’ through reducing emissionsfrom solid waste management and other activities. At the same time, however, it mustbe ensured that these efforts do not divert attention from the strong adaptation needsthat face many residents of these cities.Box 6.3 Urban flooding in IrelandMuch of urban Ireland was thrown into chaosby widespread flooding in the same week inNovember 2009 that the Irish Academy of Engineering(IAE) published a landmark reportIreland At Risk – Critical Infrastructure and ClimateChange which warned that storm surgescombined with a sea-level rise of 50cm wouldmean that a one-in-100-year flood could happenas often as every five years.Rainfall totals were the highest on recordfor November in many places and river levelsreached record heights as the Irish Red Crossdeployed volunteers and ambulances to assistin evacuations and to ensure that vital healthpersonnel were able to report to work.Months later the island nation, whose majorcities all lie on the coast, was still counting thecost. In County Cork alone, it was estimated thatflood damage ran to 100 million euros as a damequipped with a new 50-metre-wide spillway designedto cope with an extreme flood, failed tocope. The River Lee burst its banks and floodedthe centre of Cork, Ireland’s second largest city.“Failure to act now will put our society atan unacceptable risk,” said the IAE’s president,Michael Hayden. “You’ve only to thinkof Hurricane Katrina for an example of howclimate change coupled with poor planningand zoning decisions can lead to social andeconomic disaster.”In a week when the country’s major riversburst their banks, the academy warned thathomes in coastal cities could become uninsurableunless urgent measures were taken andcited Benjamin Franklin’s adage: “An ounce ofprevention is worth a pound of cure.”The IAE further predicted that unless urgentaction was taken to strengthen critical infrastructurethe following would happen: changingrainfall patterns would affect water supplies;rising sea levels would inundate coastalcities and towns; severe weather incidentswould damage energy installations, hospitals,telecommunications, railways and other criticalinfrastructure, and contaminate water supplies.The Irish Sunday Tribune newspaper notedin an editorial other factors that played a rolein the November flooding which saw thousandsof people evacuated from their homes:“The legacy of the past decade has been oneof appalling and corrupt planning decisionswhich have allowed building on flood plains;building regulations that allowed uninsulated,energy-inefficient homes to be thrown up anyhow,anywhere; inadequate flood managementschemes which at times have been poorlymanaged; and now last week, the failure tohave a fully working flood emergency plan inoperation should the worst happen has addedto the misery of tens of thousands of people.”124