Assessing the impacts of climate change in cities and their adaptive capacity: Towards transformative approaches to climate change adaptation and poverty reduction in urban areas in a set of developing countries. Science of the Total Environment, 692. pp. 1175-1190.
This paper describes a comparative study of four different cases on vulnerability, hazards and adaptive capacity to climate threats in coastal areas and communities in four developing countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon, and Uruguay. Coastal areas are vulnerable to sea level rise (SLR), storm surges and flooding due to their (i) exposure, (ii) concentration of settlements, many of which occupied by less advantaged groups, and (iii) the concentration of assets and services seen in these areas. The objective of the paper is twofold: (i) to evaluate current evidence of coastal vulnerability and adaptive capacity, and (ii) to compare adaptation strategies being implemented in a sample of developing countries, focusing on successful ones. The followed approach for the case evaluation is based on (i) documenting observed threats and damages, (ii) using indicators of physical and socioeconomic vulnerability, and adaptive capacity status, and (iii) selecting examples of successful responses. Major conclusions based on crosscase comparison are (a) the studied countries show different vulnerability, adaptive capacity and implementation of responses and (b) early warning systems are key to increase climate resilience. A recommendation is that efforts in adaptation planning in coastal areas should be intensified so as to reduce the vulnerability of coastal communities.
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