Of world's 100 cities at greatest environmental risk, India has 43: Report
Asian
cities face the greatest risk from environmental issues including air
pollution and natural disasters, according to a report by
research firm Verisk Maplecroft.
Of the 100 most vulnerable cities, 99 are in Asia, according to
the report released on Thursday. Of those, 37 are in China and 43 are in India,
the world’s first and third biggest emitters of greenhouse gases respectively.
Globally, 1.5 billion people live in 414 cities that are at high risk from
pollution, water shortages, extreme heat, natural hazards and the physical
impacts of climate change.
Jakarta, the
capital of Indonesia, topped the list of combined risk based on all nine
factors analyzed by Verisk Maplecroft. India is home to 13 of the 20 riskiest
cities in the world, a result of its extreme levels of air and water pollution.
China’s flood-prone Guangzhou and Dongguan topped the list of cities facing
threats from natural hazards, followed by Japan’s Osaka and Tokyo for being
vulnerable to earthquakes and typhoons. Lima is the only city outside Asia
among the top 100 most at-risk cities overall.
A significant danger for many cities is how climate change will
amplify weather-related risks, said Will Nichols, Verisk Maplecroft’s Head of
Environment and Climate Change. “Higher temperatures and the increasing
severity and frequency of extreme events will change the quality of living and
economic growth prospects of many cities across the globe,” he said.
African cities face some of the worst risks from climate change and have the least ability to mitigate those impacts. Glasgow was ranked the safest among the 576 cities examined for that factor.
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