Adapting to Climate Change: Water Management for Urban Resilience

WAT E R M A N A G E M E N T F O R U R B A N R E S I L I E N C E

Adapting to climate change: water management for urban resilience

MIKE MULLER

Mike Muller is a civil engineer by training and at present is Adjunct Professor at the School of Public and Development Management at the University of Witwatersrand. He was Director General of the South African Department of Water Affairs and Forestry from 1997 to 2005, and worked for the Mozambican government from 1979 to 1988. He was a member of the UN Millennium Project Task Force 7 (Water and Sanitation) and has engaged extensively in broad development policy – his advocacy publications on health and development include The Health of Nations (1982) and The Baby Killer (1974). This paper is based on a presentation developed for the Living with Climate conference organized by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), held in Espoo, Finland, in July 2006. Address: Graduate School of Public and Development Management, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa; e-mail: [e-mail] 1. Grubb, M (2006), “Climate change impacts, energy, and development”, Paper presented

ABSTRACT

Global warming and related climate changes are likely to significantly increase the weather-related risks facing human settlements, including floods, water and power supply failures and associated economic collapse into “failed cities”. Action to help poor urban communities adapt to become more resilient to possible change must therefore be initiated, although to date attention has focused on mitigation rather than adaptation. This paper considers the physical and financial implications for urban areas of the potential impacts of climate variability and change on water resources, illustrated by examples from sub-Saharan Africa, which is likely to be one of the most vulnerable and most affected regions. Water

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