Open AccessImproved estimates of coastal population and exposure to hazards released
Author(s) -
Nicholls Robert J.,
Small Christopher
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/2002eo000216
Subject(s) - natural hazard , vulnerability (computing) , hazard , climate change , population , threatened species , environmental science , population growth , environmental resource management , geography , distribution (mathematics) , range (aeronautics) , physical geography , climatology , meteorology , computer science , ecology , oceanography , environmental health , geology , habitat , biology , mathematics , engineering , mathematical analysis , computer security , aerospace engineering , medicine
Though it is well known that the world's coastlines are heavily populated, the combined implications of population growth and climate change are still subject to debate. Models of hazard impact, adaptation, and vulnerability stress the importance of understanding both exposure and adaptive capacity of the threatened systems [e.g., Smit et al ., 2001]. Combining geophysical and socio‐economic data sets can greatly improve our understanding of exposure at a range of scales from local to global. Here we estimate an upper bound on the global exposure to coastal hazards based on 1990 population distribution. The focus is on exposure to natural hazards, but these estimates also provide an indication of the direct human pressure on the coastal zone. Data from 1990 were used, as this global population distribution was the most robust currently available.