A new study was presented by Patricia Romero Lankao, a social scientist with a specialization in climate change and urban development, at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) describing the potential danger that awaits the fast-growing urban locations in developing countries due to climatic change.
According to Romero Lankao, most of the cities have failed to cut down on their level of carbon dioxide discharges and other greenhouse gases that impact the atmosphere. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the sponsor for NCAR and performed in alliance with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme.
In her research, Romero Lankao has reviewed the policies adopted by the cities all over the world while drawing out details on climatic changes from several city-based research studies. She concluded that most of the cities are not equipped to cut down on their fossil fuel usage in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to tackle the impacts of climatic changes.
According to Romero Lankao, poor localities with rapidly-increasing population that suffer from dearth of hygiene, potable drinking water and proper infrastructure are more susceptible to natural calamities. She considers the coastal storms that submerge the coastal areas and the lengthened hot periods that make air pollution worse in the heavily paved cities induce extensive health problems. According to her, by the year 2020, there will be over 500 urban locations with 1million or more population all over the world.
The three reasons cited by Romero Lankao for the lack of preparation to handle the climatic changes include the importance given to other needs by the rapidly developing cities, the decision taken by city leaders to give preference to economic growth than to safety and health factors and lastly the incorrect projections about climatic changes. The research indicates that local governments fail to cut down greenhouse gas emissions by not following proper standards on construction development and by not introducing mass rapid transport systems.
The research also mentions the efforts taken by some of the cities such as London, Brazil, Curitiba, Colombia, and Bogota by the introduction of strict laws and mass rapid transport facilities to reduce emissions.
Source: http://ncar.ucar.edu/