Aqueduct Floods, a new tool from World Resources Institute that measures water-related flood risks around the world, finds that by 2030, 15 million people and $177 billion in urban property will be impacted annually by coastal flooding, while 132 million people and $535 billion in urban property will be impacted annually due to riverine flooding. WRI also finds that investing in flood protection infrastructure now can significantly decrease the impact of floods later.
Climate change and population growth will expose more people to dangerous flooding. Investing in flood protection measures can reduce risk while helping economies rebound after COVID-19.
According to new data from WRI's Aqueduct Floods Tool, by 2030 the number of people impacted by floods will double worldwide — from 65 million to 132 million due to riverine flooding and from 7 million to 15 million due to coastal flooding.
Flood experts introduced two updated tools that help fill in the critical information gap between climate change and flooding.
Monsoons have been stronger in northern India in recent years. Residents of one city are embracing a low-tech solution to control flooding: conserving farmland.
Chennai's four main reservoirs are virtually dry. This crisis is not only due to last year's poor monsoon season—lack of proper management is driving the city's water security problems.
Seaside communities from South Asia to the Caribbean have suffered terribly from flooding. Arivudai Nambi Appadurai, India Adaptation Strategy Head for the Climate Resilience Practice and WRI India, distills how they can adapt, with a focus on the dynamics of environmental justice and sustainable development.
Before the Flood explores how human activities, such as deforestation in Indonesia's Leuser ecosystem, are fueling global climate change. WRI Forest Legality Initiative Chip Barber reflects on his experience in the Leuser 30 years ago, and how the landscape has changed.
"Today, as negotiators haggle over the details of a climate agreement in Paris, my home town in southern India is literally underwater," says Arivudai Nambi Appadurai, WRI India's Adaptation Strategy Head for Climate Resilience Practice. "Chennai has seen 17 days straight of rain, precisely the kind of extreme weather event that experts say will only become more common in a warming world."
Forty bipartisan local elected officials delivered a powerful message at a recent summit: Coastal flooding is becoming more costly and dangerous for people, businesses and cities along America’s shorelines—and policy makers at all levels of government, as well as presidential candidates, need to pay attention.
Coastal flooding is growing more dangerous and costly for people and businesses along America’s shorelines, according to a bipartisan group of local elected officials who spoke at a national summit on the issue today. The Rising Tides summit brought more than 35 mayors and local elected officials to Hampton, N.H., to discuss strategies to cope with increasingly severe coastal flooding amplified by sea level rise.
New analysis shows that approximately 21 million people worldwide could be affected by river floods on average each year, with that number rising to 54 million in 2030 due to climate change and socio-economic development.
World Resources Institute and leading Dutch research groups launch four-year initiative to assess and mitigate current and future flood risks.
Delegates from around the world attending the UN climate conference in South Africa got two unfortunate, but timely reminders this week of what is at stake.
Man-made flood-control systems—such as levees, upstream dams, and canals—continue to be responsible for widespread damage to the New Orleans and Louisiana landscapes.