DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND BUILT ENVIRONMENTAL

THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MALAYSIA

KKKH 4284 SUSTAINABLE URBAN PLANNING
TASK 6: GLOBAL WARMING

STUDENT:
AHMAD NAZRUL HAKIMI B IBRAHIM
A133762
LECTURERS :
PROF. IR. DR. RIZA ATIQ ABDULLAH BIN O.K. RAHMAT
DR. MUHAMMAD NAZRI BIN BORHAN
PN. NORLIZA BT MOHD AKHIR

Task 6: Supposed you are living in a coastal city. The city administrator has noticed that the
mean sea level has been rising for the past 50 years. The raising is small but over a long
period of time it may cause problems in the city centre as the level of that part of the city is
quite low. I f you are hired as a consultant, write a plan of action on what can be done to
reduce or mitigate the problems.
Your report must include Mitigation and Adaptation measures.

1. INTRODUCTION
As the hired consultant, first of all I would list down all the impacts of the global warming to the
town. As the city is just nearby the coastal area and there is a significant increment on the mean
sea level, the impacts to the city might be severe. Moreover due to the most of the part of city is
quite low, shoreline erosion, coastal flooding, and water pollution affect man-made infrastructure
and coastal ecosystems might be occur in the future. The impacts of climate change are likely to
worsen many problems that coastal areas already face.
In fact, climate change could affect coastal areas in a variety of ways. Coasts are sensitive
to sea level rise, changes in the frequency and intensity of storms, increases in precipitation, and
warmer ocean temperatures. In addition, rising atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide
(CO
2
) are causing the oceans to absorb more of the gas and become more acidic. This rising
acidity could have significant impacts on coastal and marine ecosystems.
The major problems faced by the town are as follow:
i. Natural protections against damaging storm surges are increasingly threatened. Barrier
islands, beaches, sand dunes, salt marshes, mangrove stands, and mud and sand flats
retreat inland as sea level rises, unless there are obstructions along the retreat path. If they
cannot move, these natural protections are washed over or drowned.
ii. High tides and storm surges riding on ever-higher seas are more dangerous to people and
coastal infrastructure.
iii. Many shorelines have sea walls, jetties, and other artificial defenses to protect roads,
buildings, and other vital coastal resources. In these areas, sea-level rise increases erosion
of stranded beaches, wetlands, and engineered structures.
2. MITIGATION
The solutions must be taken immediately to minimize the impact of global warming to the
coastal city. In order to achieve that, there are tons of works to do. The mitigations lie on our
daily activities and needs. We must tackle in these issues as these are the main contributor for
greenhouse gases which lead to global warming. The scopes including the energy efficiency,
transportation, forest management and the most important thing is sustainable development.
i. Boosting energy efficiency
The energy used to power, heat, and cool our homes, businesses, and industries is the
single largest contributor to global warming. Energy efficiency technologies allow us to
use less energy to get the sameor higherlevel of production, service, and comfort.
This approach has vast potential to save both energy and money, and can be deployed
quickly.
ii. Greening transportation
The transportation sector's emissions have increased at a faster rate than any other
energy-using sector over the past decade. A variety of solutions are at hand, including
improving efficiency in all modes of transport, switching to low-carbon fuels, and
reducing vehicle miles travelled through smart growth and more efficient mass
transportation systems.
iii. Revving up renewables
Renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal and bioenergy are available
around the world. Multiple studies have shown that renewable energy has the technical
potential to meet the vast majority of our energy needs. Renewable technologies can be
deployed quickly, are increasingly cost-effective, and create jobs while reducing
pollution.
iv. Phasing out fossil fuel electricity
Dramatically reducing our use of fossil fuels especially carbon-intensive coal is essential
to tackle climate change. There are many ways to begin this process. Key action steps
include: not building any new coal-burning power plants, initiating a phased shutdown of
coal plants starting with the oldest and dirtiest, and capturing and storing carbon
emissions from power plants. While it may sound like science fiction, the technology
exists to store carbon emissions underground. The technology has not been deployed on a
large scale or proven to be safe and permanent, but it has been demonstrated in other
contexts such as oil and natural gas recovery. Demonstration projects to test the viability
and costs of this technology for power plant emissions are worth pursuing.
v. Managing forests and agriculture
Taken together, tropical deforestation and emissions from agriculture represent nearly 30
percent of the world's heat-trapping emissions. We can fight global warming by reducing
emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and by making our food production
practices more sustainable.
vi. Developing and deploying new low-carbon and zero-carbon technologies
Research into and development of the next generation of low-carbon technologies will be
critical to deep mid-century reductions in global emissions. Current research on battery
technology, new materials for solar cells, harnessing energy from novel sources like
bacteria and algae, and other innovative areas could provide important breakthroughs.
vii. Ensuring sustainable development
The countries of the world from the most to the least developed vary dramatically in their
contributions to the problem of climate change and in their responsibilities and capacities
to confront it. A successful global compact on climate change must include financial
assistance from richer countries to poorer countries to help make the transition to low-
carbon development pathways and to help adapt to the impacts of climate change.

3. ADAPTION
i. Sewer and Drainage Upgrade
Titus et al. (1987) examined the replacement of a century-old street drain in Charleston,
South Carolina (Titus et al. 1987). If designed for the current 5-year storm, such a system
might be insufficient if sea level rises one foot or the severity of the design storm
increases 10 percent, necessitating a completely new system long before the end of the
project's useful life. On the other hand, installing slightly larger pipes sufficient to
accommodate climate change might cost only an additional 5 percent. In such a case,
designing for an increases in precipitation might prove to be worthwhile if these changes
occur; even if they do not occur, there would be some benefits because the system would
provide protection during the more severe 10-year storm. Wilcoxen (1986) made a
similar argument regarding the location of San Francisco's West Side Sewage Transport.
Similar situations will occur throughout the world.
ii. Commercial Forest
Because some commercial tree species live as long as 70 years before being harvested,
forest products companies may want to reconsider location and types of species. For
example, some types of Douglas fir need at least a few weeks of cold winter temperatures
to produce seeds. Currently, companies concentrate planting efforts at the bottoms of
mountains, from which logs can be most readily transported; considering future warming
may lead them to plant further up the mountain or in colder regions.
iii. Land Use
Purchasing Land could keep options open for water resources management and
protecting ecosystems. In regions where climate becomes drier, additional reservoirs may
eventually be necessary. However, because accurate forecasts of regional climate change
are not yet possible, water managers in most areas cannot yet be certain that they will
need more dams. Nevertheless, it may be wise to purchase the necessary land today;
otherwise, the most suitable sites may be developed, making future construction more
expensive and perhaps infeasible. A number of potential reservoir sites should be
protected by creation of parks and recreation areas.
iv. Assessment, Research and Education
Strategic assessments seek to determine whether, when, and how one should respond to
global warming, based on what we know today. These expenditures could often be
economically justified in cases where immediate physical responses could not be. Most
of the impacts of climate change could at least theoretically be mitigated, but in many
cases, effective solutions have not yet been developed. Like strategic assessments, the
value of the research is potentially the savings it makes possible.
Efforts to prepare for climate change can only be as enlightened as the people who must
carry them out. Education must be critical component of any effort to address the
greenhouse effect because (1) there will be an increased need for personnel in some
professions, (2) people in other professions will need to routinely consider the
implications of global warming, and (3) an informed citizenry will be necessary for the
public to support the public expenditures and institutional changes that may be required.

4. CONCLUSION
Climate change adaptation will need to be dealt with at all levels of government. Yet it is at the
local and regional levels where vulnerability can best be understood and addressed. Although
there is some uncertainty around when we will experience various climate changes, planners can
today anticipate their trajectories and begin thinking ahead about how to prevent catastrophic
impacts.