Two-thirds of the global population is expected to live in cities by 2050 and already an estimated 800 million People live in more than 570 coastal cities vulnerable to a sea-level rise of 0.5 metres by 2050. In a vicious circle, urbanization not only concentrates people and property in areas of potential damage and disruption, it also exacerbates those risks—for example by destroying natural sources of resilience such as coastal mangroves and increasing the strain on groundwater reserves. Intensifying impacts will render an increasing amount of land uninhabitable.
There are three main strategies for adapting to rising sea-levels:
- Engineering projects to keep water out
- Nature-based defences
- People-based strategies, such as moving households and businesses to safer ground or investing in social capital to make flood-risk communities more resilient.
Further Reading
Global Risks Report 2019 Executive Summary (pdf)
Find out more about Natural Hazards