Exposure of coastal built assets in the South Pacific to climate risks

Kumar, Lalit, and Taylor, Subhashni (2015) Exposure of coastal built assets in the South Pacific to climate risks. Nature Climate Change, 5 (11). pp. 992-996.

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View at Publisher Website: https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2702
 
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Abstract

Pacific island countries (PICs) are situated in a highly dynamic ocean–atmosphere interface, are dispersed over a large ocean area, and have highly populated urban centres located on the coastal margin1. The built infrastructure associated with urban centres is also located within close proximity to the coastlines, exposing such infrastructure to a variety of natural and climate change-related hazards. In this research we undertake a comprehensive analysis of the exposure of built infrastructure assets to climate risk for 12 PICs. We show that 57% of the assessed built infrastructure for the 12 PICs is located within 500m of their coastlines, amounting to a total replacement value of US$21.9 billion. Eight of the 12 PICs have 50% or more of their built infrastructure located within 500m of their coastlines. In particular, Kiribati, Marshall Islands and Tuvalu have over 95% of their built infrastructure located within 500m of their coastlines. Coastal adaptation costs will require substantial financial resources, which may not be available in developing countries such as the PICs, leavingthemto face very high impacts but lacking the adaptive capacity.

Item ID: 59851
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1758-6798
Funders: Australian Government, Department of Environment (DE)
Projects and Grants: DE Pacific-Australia Climate Change Science and Adaptation Planning
Date Deposited: 27 Nov 2019 02:04
FoR Codes: 04 EARTH SCIENCES > 0401 Atmospheric Sciences > 040104 Climate Change Processes @ 50%
05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0502 Environmental Science and Management > 050205 Environmental Management @ 50%
SEO Codes: 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9603 Climate and Climate Change > 960309 Effects of Climate Change and Variability on the South Pacific (excl. Australia and New Zealand) (excl. Social Impacts) @ 100%
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