Call for 'greener' London to meet climate threats

London needs to create more green spaces, require new development to incorporate 'green roofs', increase tree planting and reduce water use significantly if it is to successfully adapt to the threats posed by climate change, a major report has recommended.

Also needed will be significant improvements in the ability of London's urban areas to absorb and store rainfall and an increase in the emergency flood storage capacity of the capital's rivers.
 
These requirements and measures are highlighted in a draft strategy, published by the Greater London Authority, now out for consultation. The report pointed out that scientists forecast warmer, wetter winters and hotter, drier summers coupled with an increase in the frequency of extreme weather and rising sea levels. As a result the capital will face increasing risk of flooding, drought and heat waves.

London mayor Boris Johnson said: "Urban areas are inherently vulnerable to the impact of climate change – the density of people and assets means that there is automatically more at stake. London's position astride a tidal river, in a region of the UK where relatively little rainfall has to be shared by more people and where London’s microclimate can aggravate the impact of heat waves, intensifies these challenges."

The strategy noted that peak river levels in the non-tidal Thames are projected to rise by 30 per cent by 2115. In west London there is currently less opportunity to raise the height of flood defences due to existing development, so using green spaces adjacent to the Thames to store floodwater may become necessary. Some existing riverside properties may have to be converted so they are resilient to flood damage, the strategy argued.

Read the Mayor of London press release and access the London Climate Change Adaptation Strategy

Roger Milne

4th September 2008