MANILA, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- Asia-Pacific coastlines face growing threats as sea levels rise and floods intensify, but investing in resilience could generate benefits up to 20 times greater than the cost, according to an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report.
Annual coastal flood damages in the Asia-Pacific region could increase more than sixfold by 2050 and nearly twentyfold by 2100 without adaptation, according to the Asia-Pacific Climate Report 2026: Coastal Risks on the Rise-Actions for a Resilient Future released on Wednesday.
Based on estimates across 30 coastal economies, the report estimates that annual flood damages could reach 172 billion U.S. dollars to 199 billion U.S. dollars by 2050 and 520 billion U.S. dollars to 739 billion U.S. dollars by 2100, compared with approximately 27 billion U.S. dollars today.
The report said keeping flood damages near today's levels would require an estimated 9 billion U.S. dollars to 19 billion U.S. dollars a year in coastal protection, an investment that could avoid 178 billion U.S. dollars to 360 billion U.S. dollars in flood damages each year.
According to ADB, over 400 million people in the region live within 10 kilometers of the sea. Coasts are hubs for ports and trade, as well as tourist and heritage spots. Without adequate adaptation measures, larger economies could face some of the highest economic losses in absolute terms, while relative impacts are particularly severe in atoll nations, where annual flood damage could reach 30 percent to 60 percent of GDP by 2100.
In major coastal cities such as Bangkok, Jakarta, Kolkata, and Mumbai, coastal floods that historically occurred once every 100 years could become annual events by the end of the century, said the report. ■
