(Phys.org) —A team of researches with members from several European countries has concluded that it would be far more cost effective for most coastal area economies to employ flood prevention strategies rather than simply pay to clean up after flooding that occurs due to global warming. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers describe likely flooding scenarios in the future as ocean levels rise due to global warming and the possible costs of building structures to prevent flood damage.
Global warming, it appears, is here to stay, thus, it's time, the researchers suggest, to start making plans for dealing with the inevitable flooding that will occur as ocean levels rise due to warmer water and melting snow and ice. They note that approximately a billion people currently live in areas that are likely to be at risk—low-lying coastal areas. And since it's not likely that towns and cities will be moved farther inland, other measures need to be taken. They note that flood prevention strategies are well established, e.g. building levees, barrier islands, etc., thus it's not difficult to draw up estimates for such schemes for individual areas. What is difficult is convincing municipalities to spend billions of dollars on preventing floods that won't occur for many years.
To make their point, the researchers highlight the high financial toll that floods take, compared to the relatively small investment costs for flood prevention. As one example, they note that one highly developed coastal urban area could see damages reaching to nearly $20 trillion annually—as in every single year. To offer a comparison, they note that the GDP for the United States as a whole is roughly $17 trillion a year. Clearly it would be cheaper to prevent the flooding in the first place.
The researchers acknowledge that costs for putting in flood control measures in different parts of the world could vary dramatically, but suggest that regardless, it would almost certainly be cheaper than enduring endless flooding. The key is in recognizing what the future holds and making plans for it, rather than taking a wait-and-see approach.
As one additional note of caution, the researchers also remind urban planners that history has shown that not all flood prevention efforts succeed as envisioned, and when they fail, catastrophic events can occur as a result—quite often due to building in a flood plain out of an exaggerated sense of security.
