Human Settlements, Energy, and Industry

Abstract

Human settlements are integrators of many of the climate impacts initially felt in other sectors, and differ from each other in geographic location, size, economic circumstances, and political and social capacity. The most wide-spread serious potential impact is flooding and landslides, followed by tropical cyclones. A growing literature suggests that a very wide variety of settlements in nearly every climate zone may be affected, although the specific evidence is still very limited. Settlements with little economic diversification and where a high percentage of incomes derive from climate sensitive primary resource industries (agriculture, forestry and fisheries) are more sensitive than more diversified settlements