Algeria: Study on Algiers City Vulnerability to Climate Change and Disasters

In 2030, North-African coastal cities will be home to 100 million people, these cities are also exposed to serious risks of natural disasters, such as flash floods, landslides, coastal erosion, water scarcity and earthquakes, most of which will be intensified by climate change in the coming decades.

The city of Algiers gathers 3 million inhabitants, most of the country’s economic and political activities, and is particularly prone to natural disasters. In 2001 and 2003, the city was hit successively by the Bab el Oued flashfloods and the Boumerdes earthquake, which revealed the cities’ weaknesses and urged the authorities to take action in order to mitigate the impact of such disasters in the future.

Following a first regional study led by the World Bank in Alexandria, Tunis, Casablanca and the Bouregreg Valley, the Algerian government showed great interest in the undertaking of an urban risk assessment in Algiers. A call for proposals was thus launched by the Caisse des Depots, which will finance the study in the framework of CMI’s Cities & Climate Change program.

The study, conducted by Egis EAU, will start mid-April 2012 for a duration of 14 months. It will aim at strengthening the capacities of Algiers to prepare for climate change impacts and natural disasters, through the undertaking of an urban risk assessment and the drafting of an adaptation plan, and to develop an adaptation plan to increase the resilience of the Algerian capital.

It is the result of cooperation between the Deposit and Consignment Fund, the Centre for Mediterranean Integration, the World Bank and the Algerian authorities at all ministries in Algiers and local elected officials.