Tackling Climate Risks to Urban Water Security in Coastal Cities in Asia

The convergence of three factors is influencing cities globally: climate change, rapid urbanisation and water security challenges. Water security encompasses a wide spectrum of challenges including access to water supply, access to sanitation, affordability, drainage and flood management and environmental degradation. Global water security challenges are intensifying and the impact of climate change is expected to be more pronounced in the tropics. These challenges are however not uniquely faced by coastal cities although an overwhelming majority of global urban population is concentrated along coasts or in river estuaries and deltas. Rather than adopting conventional urban water servicing approaches, we have an opportunity to direct future investments into well-placed, efficient and resilient infrastructure by adopting an integrated urban water management framework to guide urban water governance reform and infrastructure investments. Contemporary urban development strategies are creating hybrid systems that combine critical existing infrastructure with flexible, decentralised solutions that can be tailored for local conditions. This approach enabled the progressive resilience and climate adaptative strengthening of cities.