Page 46 - Shelter-October-2022

POLICY REVIEW

sea level rise and ineffective Section 2 briefly discusses flooding in coastal town and
natural drainage systems will the impact of sea level rise cities is critical for coastal
cause permanent inundation globally and in India on planning and for assessing
of some parts of coastal land habitats and population. the benefits of climate
or result in chronic flooding. Through literature review, mitigation measures as well
Intrusion of saltwater in Section 3 highlights the as the costs of failure to act
ground water is leading to towns and cities that will be (Kulp and Strauss, 2019).
contamination of drinking highly impacted by sea level At the global level, the total
water supplies and also rise along the Indian coast. number of people living in
damaging local agriculture Mitigation and adapting areas which will be affected
(Alfarrah and Walraevens, measures will depend on by flooding caused by sea
2018). Internationally, there the availability of finance. level rise has been estimated
is evidence that flooding risk The financing of disaster to be 300 million by 2050, and
causes loss in property values management is discussed in 480 million by 2100 (Kulp
and permanent damage to section 4. Section 5 discussed and Strauss, 2019). These
some properties, which may the policy development that effects are not distributed
even increase the cost of has impact on disaster risk uniformly across regions
insurance (Bin et al., 2011). management. Disaster risk but there are geographical

The debate in India on the risk management requires urban concentration. More than
to properties in coastal areas planning tools, as highlighted 70% of affected persons will
due to sea level rise is still in in Section 6. Market be in eight Asian countries
very early stages. The socio- mechanisms to complement – China, Bangladesh, India,
economic impact of sea-level public finance are discussed Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam,
rise on coastal towns and in section 7. Section 8 presents Philippines and Japan (Kulp
properties depends critically preliminary conclusions and and Strauss, 2019).
on our understanding of risk an agenda for policy and Along the Indian coast, sea
and its internalisation, and the research. levels are rising faster than
measures that are instituted the global average (WMO,
to mitigate the risk. The SEA LEVEL RISE 2022). 36 million people who
debate on allocation of risk AND ITS PREDICTED will live in coastal areas in
(whether it’s a private risk IMPACT ON HUMANS India by 2100 will be affected
or a social risk) is also crucial AND THEIR HABITATS by coastal flooding and
to the design of solutions to The sea-level rise is inevitable inundation as a result of sea
mitigate and adapt to the risk. and so is the risk to the level rise, even if moderate
Nevertheless the magnitude coastal towns. Even under the cuts in CO emissions are
of social, economic and most optimistic scenario and 2
property value at risk will implementation of strategies undertaken (Jayraman,
2019). This is about 8% of
require options for mitigation to immediately cut carbon
and adaptation to the risk. the world’s population that
emissions, the sea level could will be affected by sea level
In this paper, we argue still rise by another 0.5 m by rise. Metropolitan cities like
that there is an urgent need 2100 (Kulp and Strauss, 2019). Kolkata (population 4.5
to develop appropriate Translating projections related million as per 2011 census),
mitigation and adaptation to sea level rise into potential Chennai (population 4.6
strategies to address the risk exposure of population to the million as per 2011 census),
that the sea level rise poses. risk posed by incidences of Kochi (population 0.6 million

44 HUDCO-HSMI Publication