North African coastal cities address natural disasters and climate change
Summary of the regional study - June 2011:
This study is aimed to help better understand both the risks that North Africa’s coastal cities face by the 2030 time horizon, and to help prepare the required adaptive responses. Alexandria, Casablanca and Tunis were studies together with the Bouregreg Valley between Rabat and Salé in Morocco, an area which is undergoing largescale urban development and is slated for further growth in the next decade. The study analyzed the exposure of all four locations to natural disasters, such as floods and storm surges, earthquakes and tsunamis, as well as to the increasingly frequent weather extremes associated with climate change. The project, which took place from June 2009 to June 2011, has provided tools for evaluating the risks, costing out potential losses, and moving toward specific reforms and investments designed to adapt the cities to a changing climate and increase their resilience to natural hazards.