04. 04. 2017
“WHERE WILL WE GO?”
BY Giovanni PAGANI, UN-Habitat
From 18th of February to 17th of March, the UN-Habitat Urban Resilience Programme (URP) proudly presented Kadir von Lohuizen’s exhibition Where will we go? The human consequences of rising sea levels
Through a touching collection of pictures taken in Greenland, Kiribati, Fiji, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, Panama, United Kingdom, and the USA, the photo essay offered a dramatic account of the devastating impacts unleashed by climate change in terms of sea-level rise and coastal erosion. As explained by the author, the project seeks to raise awareness and a strong sense of urgency – both amongst the public and policy-makers – about the plight of families and communities forced to abandon their villages, homes and belongings, as a result of rising sea levels.
From a broader perspective, the exhibition also provided a fruitful opportunity for the URP team, its academic partners from the Urban Resilience Institute (URI) and the RESCCUE Project Coordinator from Aquatec to conduct a multidisciplinary reflection on the numerous challenges that coastal areas must face. Not only in small island states or remote corners of the Indian and Pacific Ocean are these challenges a reality, but equally in urban environments and coastal cities across the globe; close to both our collective imagination and comfort zone.
We are profoundly convinced that this kind of initiative can positively shape our commitment to resilience and we support the RESCCUE Project as a unique platform to deliver long-term impacts in this regard.
We encourage you to discover more about the exhibition through the hyperlinked videos, and continue the dialogue on the inevitability of permanent loss of land, livelihoods, economies, as a consequence of sea-level rise and coastal erosion in Lisbon, Barcelona and Bristol within the context of the resilient city.