Sustainable infrastructure is the world’s best defense against increase in precipitation due to climate change.

Catastrophic flooding in Libya in September has taken as many as 5,300 human lives, according to the Interior Ministry of Libya’s eastern government. Amid such massive human casualties, many around the world are left wondering how such losses may be prevented as climate related natural disasters become increasingly common.

Extreme flooding events like the one in Libya are on the rise as Earth’s average temperature increases, causing more evaporation and thus greater precipitation. According to the EPA, global precipitation has increased by an average of 0.04 inches per decade since 1901. In more than half of recorded locations, flooding is now at least 5 times more common than it was in the 1950s. This month alone, the effects of extreme precipitation and flooding have been felt in Hong Kong, Greece, Turkey, Brazil, Libya and the United States. 

In Libya and around the world, urban planning must adapt quickly to the rising threat of flooding. However, this poses a challenge for many developing nations where resources are often either limited or diverted elsewhere. For example, in Derna, the city in northeast Libya that was the most affected by the flooding, neglected infrastructure was in part to blame for the catastrophic loss of human life. Heavy rains caused two dams to burst, dams that experts have been warning are prone to collapse for years. Unfortunately, resources in Libya are generally diverted towards the ongoing civil war. More busy with conflict than governing, public officials failed to provide the necessary repairs on the dams.

Moreover, climate change not only increases precipitation but also hinders the environment’s ability to withstand heavy rainfall. In Derna, the inundation of the area has washed away much of the soil, which would have helped absorb some of the precipitation. The ground in and around Derna has been left hard, cracked, and stripped of vegetation. Due to these conditions, very little water was retained in the ground, worsening the flooding. Globally, similar conditions must be prevented if flooding events like the one in Libya are to be curbed. 

Libya is far from the only place where the infrastructure is inadequate in the face of increasingly heavy rains. Most urban areas around the world, even those in rich countries with the resources to adapt like the United States, have not created infrastructure nor correctly supported the local environment to prevent extreme flooding. Globally, urban planning must now be rapidly modified to account for increasing precipitation.

Making the ground more permeable is the most impactful way urban planning can help reduce extreme flooding. One way this can be achieved is through the incorporation of permeable pavement. Using this type technique allows water to pass through porous paved surfaces into groundwater stores instead of overwhelming the local drainage systems. Further, creating more green spaces, including green roofs, trees, parks, and rain gardens, all increase the permeability of the ground. When the ground can absorb more water, flooding events like the one in Libya may be prevented.

Get Involved:

To help Libyan flood victims you can donate to UNICEF, International Rescue Community, or Doctors Without Borders.

Sophia Larson is a recent graduate of Barnard College at Columbia University. She previously worked as the Assistant Editor on the 2021 book Young People of the Pandemic. She has also participated as a writer and editor at several student news publications, including “The UMass Daily Collegian” and “Bwog, Columbia Student News.”