Good Practice Guide - Climate Change Adaptation in Delta Cities

More than two-thirds of the world's largest cities are coastal delta cities. These cities are vulnerable to rising sea levels as a result of climate change, while millions of people are already being exposed to the risk of extreme storms and flooding events. By the middle of this century, the majority of the world’s population will live in cities in or near deltas, estuaries or coastal zones, increasing the number of people facing these impacts globally. Such socio-economic trends further amplify the possible consequences of extreme climate change related events and the vulnerability of delta cities is expected to increase in the decades to come.

Any strategy for the sustainable development and growth of delta cities must integrate adaptation planning in order to reduce vulnerabilities to climate change risks and impacts. This Good Practice Guide identifies a number of Good Practice Approaches for climate change planning and implementation in delta cities. The C40 Connecting Delta Cities (CDC) Network was established to support delta cities in C40 to mainstream adaptation policies and approaches to deliver concrete climate change adaptation action by facilitating the sharing of good practice and technical expertise.

The purpose of this Good Practice Guide is to summarise the key elements of CDC good practice for global dissemination, highlighting the success of C40 cities in planning and delivering climate change adaptation measures.