There are a total of 414 cities that are considered to be highly at environmental risk since they suffer from pollution, extreme heat, water shortage, and intense climate change. It has also been known that almost 1.5 billion human beings reside in these cities.
There are several cities in Asia that are currently facing a huge environmental risk. Numerous issues such as natural disasters and air pollution are plaguing Asian cities. This has been recently reported by Verisk Maplecroft, a research company.
According to this research, 100 cities all over the world have been listed as prone to extreme environmental risk. However, it is appalling that out of the 100 worldwide cities, Asia consists of 99 of those cities. In addition, out of these 99, 37 cities lie in China while India shelters 43 of them.
As a result, these 2 countries have emerged as the 1st and 3rd largest greenhouse gas emitters across the planet, respectively. The 414 cities at high environmental risk, house almost 1.5 billion individuals on a global basis. These cities and their residents are faced with water shortage, pollution of various kinds, natural hazards, and the complete effect of extreme climate change.
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Cities & People At Extreme Environmental Risk
Jakarta is Indonesia’s capital city and it is ranked 1st on the list. This is mainly due to the fact that Jakarta is plagued with several combined risks that are based on all the 9 factors which have been taken into account by Verisk Maplecroft.
Moreover, India comprises 13 most risky cities out of the 20 listed ones across the world. This is due to the acute levels of water and air pollution. Furthermore, Guangzhou is the most flood-prone city in China while Dongguan has been listed as number 1 among the cities that are faced with threats consisting of natural hazards.
Following the heels of Indian and Chinese cities at high environmental risks, are Japanese cities, namely, Tokyo and Osaka. These cities are known to be extremely vulnerable to typhoons and earthquakes. On the other hand, Lima has emerged as the sole non-Asian city to be included in the 100 leading riskiest cities’ list worldwide.
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Vulnerable Cities At Environmental Hazards
One of the most hazardous factors for most of these cities is the way in which climate change might be increasing the weather-related risks. Will Nichols is the Head of Climate Change at Verisk Maplecroft and he has mentioned this aspect. He further added that the higher the temperature rises, it will obviously amplify the frequency as well as the severity of extreme events. Additionally, the quality of life and prospects of economic growth in all these cities will also get adversely affected.
There are numerous cities in Africa that also face the worst environmental risks primarily owing to climate change. This aspect is further made worse because these cities have the least capability to mitigate these impacts in an accurate manner. Nonetheless, the research has also mentioned Glasgow as the safest city among the other 575 cities that were analyzed based on several crucial factors.
Nichols has also stated that environmental risks should be the most significant concern during the times when real estate, business, or investment portfolios are being prepared. He hopes that the main factor in considering these issues will be emphasizing the strategies and identifying the risks before making future climate decisions.
