Editorial

Abstract

The lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people will be affected by what is done (or not done) in cities with regard to climate change over the next 5–10 years. As the paper by Patricia Romero Lankao points out, cities are key players both in the generation of greenhouse gases and in strategies to reduce this generation, especially in reducing our dependence on carbon-based fuels. Cities also concentrate a large proportion of those most at risk from the effects of climate change. While the need for city governments and civil society groups to act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is well established – and with many city governments in Europe and North America already acting on this – the need to act to reduce vulnerability to climate change is not. In addition, most of the cities (and nations) that face the highest risks from the negative effects of climate change are those with almost negligible contributions to atmospheric greenhouse gases. Take, for instance, Cotonou, the economic capital of Benin, with around one million inhabitants, whose vulnerability to climate change is described in the paper by Krystel Dossou and Bernadette Glehouenou-Dossou. In 2004, average emissions of carbon dioxide per person in Benin were around one-fi ftieth that in highincome nations – or one-eightieth that in the USA.(1) Like many cities on the coast of West Africa, large parts of Cotonou’s economy and residential neighbourhoods are particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise and storm surges. Some roads, beaches and buildings have already been destroyed by the regression of the coastline in the last 10 years. Many other cities in Africa are also at risk from sea-level rise and storm surges. Half of the continent’s 37 “million cities” are either within or have parts that are within the low elevation coastal zone. Banjul, Lagos and Alexandria are among the cities most at risk, although many others are also likely to face much increased risks from storms and fl ooding – but because of the lack of local analysis, the scale of these risks has yet to be documented.(2) Many Asian cities are also particularly at risk. Asia has many of the world’s largest cities/ metropolitan areas that are in the fl oodplains of major rivers (e.g. the Ganges–Brahmaputra, the Mekong and the Yangtze) and cycloneprone coastal areas (the Bay of Bengal, the South China Sea, Japan and the Philippines).The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has emphasized how river deltas are among the world’s most valuable, heavily populated Saleemul Huq, Hannah Reid and David Satterthwaite are at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED); Saleemul Huq and Hannah Reid with the Climate Change Group, David Satterthwaite with the Human Settlements Group. Sari Kovats is with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Saleemul Huq, Sari Kovats and David Satterthwaite also contribute to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Working Group II.