An Adaptation Due to Climate Change in Southwest Coast of Taiwan

Abstract

The adaptive capacity of coastal disasters caused by climate change in order to strengthen southwestern Taiwan against natural calamities in the future is investigated. In Taiwan, the coastal zone suffers from approximately four typhoons each year, and the exceptionally high sea levels caused by storm surges frequently results in coastal disasters and hinders the development of the coastal area. The problems of sea-level rises and frequent typhoons induced by climate change have threatened the Taiwanese coastal environments. These influences as well as serious land subsidence upon a scenario year were carried out in the southwest coastal areas. The present study focuses on the construction of the disaster characteristics, model establishment for situation analysis of water environmental factors, impact estimation and indefinite analysis on disasters, and vulnerability and risk estimation of coastal disasters on the study area. These results could provide useful information to establish strategies to implement as well as how to analyze the benefits of such a program.

Keywords:

• adaptation capacity
• climate change
• coastal disaster
• risk
• vulnerability

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the financial support provided by the National Science Council of Taiwan under Grant of NSC100-2625-M-006-002, and Water Resources Agency, Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan under Grant numbers MOEAWRA 0990334, MOEAWRA1000075, and MOEAWRA1010204.