Climate change has long been the topic of numerous discussions as we face the consequences of our previous actions. As we try to envision our future and attempt to find a way to address our climate change, these conversations have been rather slow as we face conflict of interests in different sectors of our economy and individuals that reject the severity of climate change. While countries have moved onto acknowledging the problem, our actions are still too slow to fix it. In response to this, climate resilience strategies have come as an alternative solution at the moment to aid regions that are being hit by natural disasters that are becoming stronger as climate change continues.

Climate resilience strategies are strategies that were designed to adapt to the growing climate risks that our world now faces. These strategies take the form of development projects where different infrastructure are built to protect regions against natural disasters and emerging threats of climate change. In order to create effective solutions based on these strategies, the most important factor to consider is whether the highly vulnerable populations, often those that live under poverty and suffer from lack of access to basic services such as healthcare, are protected. Recent development projects that aim to raise the standards of living in impoverished communities have embraced climate resilience to infrastructure projects in hopes to increase the reliability of these facilities and protect people’s lives. 

One example is the water infrastructure project in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic executed under collaboration with USAID. The project aimed to develop a plan to tackle climate vulnerability of water sanitation infrastructure in Santo Domingo. Through implementing a screening process for water sanitation projects for climate vulnerability, the project hopes to assess relevant adaptation options that could be incorporated into the plan. Another example is an Asian Development Bank project in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Similar to Santo Domingo, the project aimed to create a climate-resilient livelihood in the flooding-prone area. Through creating strong systems of roads, bridges, water, and electricity supply systems that could survive strong cyclones and floods, the project aimed to reduce climate vulnerability of Chittagong. It also aimed to create a strong communication system and a climate vulnerability screening process to ensure construction of high quality infrastructure that could endure disasters and adapt to growing climate risks. 

Similar to these projects, the world now needs to embrace climate resilience in their urban planning. If we cannot stop the growing threats of climate change, what we can do at the moment is to at least reduce our vulnerability to climate risks. 

Works Cited

“Climate Resilience Portal.” Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, 19 Feb. 2021, www.c2es.org/content/climate-resilience-overview/.

Ranawana, Sanath. “54047-002: Preparing the Climate Resilient Livelihood Improvement and Watershed Management in Chittagong Hill Tracts Sector Project.” Asian Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, 4 Jan. 2021, www.adb.org/projects/54047-002/main#project-documents-collapse.

USAID. “CLIMATE RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES (CRIS): INCREASING THE CLIMATE RESILIENCE OF INFRASTRUCTURE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.” USAID, Aug. 2014.