Assessing the Risks from Changing Climate in South Texas Region

Abstract

The yearly dose of havoc unleashed from the overwhelming forces of changing climatic parameters on coastal communities does not differentiate among boundaries when inflicting damages of any kind. For that, in the last several years, climate risks continue to plague the southern portion of Texas. Give its location, the South Texas’ region, and adjourning areas along the Gulf of Mexico as a hub for speculative capital and natural resource extraction face exposures from the menace of tropical storms of immense scales. The ferocious pressures from heavy storms in these settings are such that, they often leave in their wake indelible footprint on the surrounding ecology. This comes with extreme impacts on both the natural and built-up environments particularly around big cities holding vital infrastructure crucial in economic development and productive capacity of petroleum and natural resource assets of South Texas. While the situation is further compounded by the region’s propensity to natural disasters and the fragile coastal ecosystem close to enormous network of large-scale energy infrastructure made up of oil and gas fields, refineries, and pipelines. The presence of petrochemical complexes, thriving natural resource base, transportation corridors, burgeoning urban centers, and neighborhoods often at the receiving end of recurrent climate hazards over time, increases the inherent risks, due to environmental, physical, and socio-economic and policy factors located within the larger regional ecosystem. Yet, current studies in climate change have done very little in assessing the situation in south Texas region with the latest advances in geospatial information technology under a mix scale orientation. Considering these voids in research, this paper assesses changing climate impacts in the South Texas region using secondary data analyzed with descriptive statistics and (GIS) Geographic Information System under a mix scale method. With emphasis on the issues, trends, impacts, factors, and mitigation measures. The results revealed widespread occurrence of climatic hazards in the study area with visible impacts in the form of heavy floods from storms leading to environmental damages. This involves also risks to petroleum amenities and displacement of citizens and the loss of properties. The GIS mapping of the trends pinpointed clusters of heavy presence of stressors and degraded amenities dispersed across space over time with linkages to socio-economic, physical, and ecological elements. To remedy the situation, the paper proffered numerous solutions ranging from the adoption of effective policy, growth management, monitoring, the design of a regional climate information systems and education of the public.