This week WWF's adaptation blog, ClimatePrep, explores the various steps New York City is taking to adapt to climate change in a post-Sandy world.
In October 2012 the world watched in disbelief as superstorm* Sandy battered the Eastern Coast of the United States. New York City, the metropolis best recognized through iconic photos and movie scenes, seemed invincible, and had nearly escaped the wrath of Hurricane Irene the year before.
Sandy was a life-changing event for many of New York City’s 8+ million residents, and left much of the city in darkness for days, weeks in some areas. Many lost homes while others were stranded inside high-rise buildings, unable to access basic services. As the world shifts its focus to more recent disasters and news stories, the communities affected by the storm continue to try to recover and bounce back from such a devastating event.
Lessons for Other Cities
It is acknowledged that even with these current plans New York City will not be ‘climate-change proof’, a goal that is considered impossible. However, putting these adaptation plans into action will make the city far safer and more resilient than without them. Implementing New York’s resiliency plan is expected to reduce lives lost and damage caused by future disasters, with losses projected to reduce by up to 25 percent in the 2050s. Sandy is a reminder that cities, especially coastal cities, cannot escape the devastating path of storm surges, extreme rainfall, heat waves and sea level rise. It is also a reminder that often impacts far exceed expectations.
Dr. Rosenzweig stresses the importance of starting early on, stating “one of the important things is the knowledge foundation gets built up, so it’s really good for vulnerability assessments, impact assessments and adaptation assessments.” Another key to success is that the city decision-makers and the local researchers need to form alliances to work together on the issue. “In New York we co-developed with the New York City decision-makers a flexible adaptation pathway approach. What this does is it recognizes that decisions and preparations will need to evolve through time. “Another lesson learned from New York is that it’s vital to take ‘the metropolitan region approach’. “There’s been a lot of focus of climate change on cities, which is really the core city, but really to develop resilience we need to expand…” says Dr. Rosenzweig. She also says that in the case of developing countries it is important to consider peri-urban areas and rural-urban connections. Regional coordination is essential, and this can be challenging because not all cities have jurisdiction over the larger metropolitan area.