Nine Indian states are among the world’s top 50 regions at risk of damage to “built environment” due to climate change hazards, said a report published on Monday.
Built environment refers to aspects of surroundings that are built by humans to support their activities such as homes and workplaces.
According to the report published by Cross Dependency Initiative, a group that works on quantifying the costs of climate change, India has the highest number of states that are at risk of damage. These are Bihar (22nd spot), Uttar Pradesh (25), Assam (28), Rajasthan (32), Tamil Nadu (36), Maharashtra (38), Gujarat (48), Punjab (50) and Kerala (52), according to the report.
The maximum climate risk to the built environment is in Assam, the report said.
The group calculated the physical climate risk in over 2,600 states and provinces around the world in 2050.
According to the report, 80% of the 50 regions at the most risk are situated in China, the United States and India. Asia dominated the list of provinces at risk with 114 such regions in the top 200.
Beijing, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, Taiwan and Mumbai are among the top 100 cities that are at risk of damage. In China, at-risk regions are concentrated in the globally-connected eastern and southern parts of the country, reported PTI.
The Pakistani provinces of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are also among the top 100 regions at risk. Floods between June and August had devasted Pakistan, impacting about 30% of the country and damaging over 9 lakh houses in Sindh alone.
Other countries with multiple regions in the top 50 include Brazil and Indonesia. From Europe, the cities at high risk include London, Milan, Munich and Venice.
‘This increase and overall risk to the built environment in 2050 is driven predominately by sea level rise and secondarily by flooding and coastal inundation,” the report said.
It also clarified that if regions are not on the list, it does not mean that they are at low risk. It said that many states and provinces facing high risk from extreme weather climate change hazards are not at the top of the rankings because they have a low number of residential, commercial and industrial buildings.
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