This is the reason why cities where at the epicenter of this year’s United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP28), where it was recognized that they play a crucial role in the fight against climate change, resulting to a series of breakthroughs and coalitions.
Currently, almost 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, while the United Nations’ projections suggest that this percentage will continue to grow, reaching around 68% by 2050. At the same time, more and more cities around the world are facing the effects of extreme weather phenomena, that are often leaving the population exposed to life-threatening situations.
In today’s globalized world, where the transnational nature of meteorological and environmental events is vastly recognized, local authorities and state policy makers are responsible to take decisions and lead actions, but are not the only ones that can make a difference. Cooperation with other states and international organizations can contribute to building and maintaining resilient cities, by sharing best practices and recommendation, establishing information and warning systems and leveraging financing.
In this context, on March 2022, UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced the creation of an initiative that can provide “Early Warnings for All”, by 2027. Based on a partnership between several UN Organizations and NGOs, the initiative aims to provide everyone with protection from hazardous weather, water or climate events, building upon four main pillars: a) providing countries with disaster risk knowledge and management, b) optimizing detection, observation, monitoring, analysis and forecasting of phenomena, c) ensuring warning dissemination and communication towards people in affected areas and d) enabling preparedness and response capabilities by local governments, communities and individuals.
According to the Global Commission on Adaptation, giving a 24 hours’ notice of an approaching event can reduce damage by 30 %. Investing an amount of $800 million in early warning systems could prevent losses of $3 to $16 billion annually, in developing countries alone. But, as we are well aware, developing countries are not the only ones affected by extreme weather phenomena. Major hurricanes have hit the USA more than once, heatwaves threaten Europe -even the Northern part – with increasing frequency, while floods endanger cities around the world.
Recently, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit the Japanese city of Ishikawa, leaving more than a hundred dead in its pass. But the number could be even greater, if people were not warned in time to evacuate to higher ground, due to the upcoming tsunami. Unfortunately, not all countries can boast of a similar level of preparedness and response.
And, while phenomena come and go, cities are left to cope with the repercussions. Only last year, New York City dealt with the aftermath of heavy rainfall during September, while in Greece, the population of Thessaly is still recovering from the severe floods of the same period. A 24-hour warning can make a huge difference in saving human lives, but it can hardly protect infrastructure, residences or working spaces. And this is where building resilience in urban areas becomes imperative.
Raising awareness on resilience and mobilizing non-governmental stakeholders is one of the first steps that should be taken, followed by efforts to improve diagnostic skills and ameliorate cooperation between local and central governments. Actually enhancing the built environment is only part of this equation, even if a very important one. In this process, increasing access to finance and aiming to create resilient infrastructure is the minimum standard. Incorporating nature-based solutions and implementing policies to reduce exposure to hazards and risks is what we should ultimately seek to achieve.
Building resilience in cities is crucial for ensuring the well-being of the residents, promoting sustainable development, and minimizing the impact of risks and uncertainties. Resilient cities are better positioned to adapt, recover, and thrive in the face of ongoing changes, and international cooperation can play an important role in achieving it.
