Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press
Shortly after an “atmospheric river” dropped a large amount of water onto British Columbia’s lower mainland last November, landscape architect Kees Lokman, director of the University of British Columbia’s Coastal Adaptation Lab, examined that the areas that were inundated included the low-lying regions in the southern part of B.C.
Lokman focused his studies on the places where land and water meet, and how these zones have emerged as a critical front line in the fight against climate change. The topic invariably spills over into another deeply complex issue: what to do about development in or near flood-prone zones.
Some dispute that flood-related damage has become the most visible symptom of climate change in urbanized regions. Property and casualty claims in Canada averaged $250 to $450 million annually between 1983 and 2008, but those figures have shot up in the years since then to an average annual figure of $1.8 billion.
The City of Christchurch, in New Zealand, imposed so-called red zone designations on a series of residential neighborhoods along the Avon River that were submerged during the floods triggered by the devastating 2011 earthquake. About 5,500 homes and properties in these areas were expropriated, and the buildings were demolished.