1. JABATAN KEJURUTERAAN AWAM DAN STRUKTUR
FAKULTI KEJURUTERAAN DAN ALAM BINA
KKKH 4284 PERANCANGAN BANDAR LESTARI
SEMESTER 2 2013/2014
TASK 6: GLOBAL WARMING
NAME : NURUL IMAMAH BINTI TAJRI
NO. MATRIC : A132955
LECTURER : Prof. Ir. Dr. RIZA ATIQ ABDULLAH BIN O.K. RAHMAT
Dr. MUHAMAD NAZRI BIN BORHAN

2. Supposed you are living in a coastal city. The city administrator has noticed that the mean sea
level has been rising for the past 50 years. The raising is small but over a long period of time it
may cause problems in the city centre as the level of that part of the city is quite low. If you are
hired as a consultant, write a plan of action on what can be done to reduce or mitigate the
problems.
Your report must include Mitigation and Adaptation measures.
INTRODUCTION
Global warming is the observed increase in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere
and oceans in recent decades and its projected continuation into the future. The decade of 2001-
2009 was the warmest decade recorded on earth. The prevailing scientific opinion on climate
change is that "most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human
activities." The main cause of the human-induced component of warming is the increased
atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide (CO2), which
leads to warming of the surface and lower atmosphere by increasing the greenhouse effect.
Greenhouse gases are released by activities such as the burning of fossil fuels, land clearing, and
agriculture.
An increase in global temperatures can in turn cause other changes, including a rising sea
level and changes in the amount and pattern of precipitation. These changes may increase the
frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as floods, droughts, heat waves,
hurricanes, and tornados. Other consequences include higher or lower agricultural yields, glacier
retreat, reduced summer streamflows, species extinctions and increases in the ranges of disease
vectors. Warming is expected to affect the number and magnitude of these events; however, it is
difficult to connect particular events to global warming. Although most studies focus on the
period up to 2100, even if no further greenhouse gases were released after this date, warming
(and sea level) would be expected to continue to rise since CO2 has a long average atmospheric
lifetime.
Remaining scientific uncertainty comes from the exact degree of climate change expected
in the future and particularly how changes will vary from region to region across the globe. In
addition, the complexity of the earth's climate complicates the understanding and forecasting of
the effects of climate change. For example, changes in water vapor in the earth's atmosphere is
believed to have cancelled roughly 25% of the global warming caused by carbon emissions

3. during the past decade. Most national governments have committed to taking steps to mitigate
future climate change.
Sea level rise is one of several lines of evidence that support the view that the climate has
recently warmed. It is very likely that human-induced warming contributed to the sea level rise
observed in the latter half of the 20th
century. The raising is small but over a long period of time
it may cause problems in the city centre as the level of that part of the city is quite low. So, there
is necessary for a consultant to identify a plan of action to reduce or mitigate the problems.
SOLUTION
As the hired consultant, first of all I would list down all the impacts of the global warming to the
town. As the city is just nearby the coastal area and there is a significant increment on the mean
sea level, the impacts to the city might be severe. Moreover due to the most of the part of city is
quite low, shoreline erosion, coastal flooding, and water pollution affect man-made infrastructure
and coastal ecosystems might be occur in the future. The impacts of climate change are likely to
worsen many problems that coastal areas already face.
The major problems faced by the town are as follow:
1) Natural protections against damaging storm surges are increasingly threatened. Barrier
islands, beaches, sand dunes, salt marshes, mangrove stands, and mud and sand flats
retreat inland as sea level rises, unless there are obstructions along the retreat path. If they
cannot move, these natural protections are washed over or drowned.
2) High tides and storm surges riding on ever-higher seas are more dangerous to people and
coastal infrastructure.
3) Many shorelines have sea walls, jetties, and other artificial defenses to protect roads,
buildings, and other vital coastal resources. In these areas, sea-level rise increases erosion
of stranded beaches, wetlands, and engineered structures.
So, the solutions must be taken immediately to minimize the impact of global warming to the
coastal city. In order to achieve that, there are tonnes of works to do. The mitigations lie on our
daily activities and needs. We must tackle in these issues as these are the main contributor for

4. greenhouse gases which lead to global warming. The scopes including the energy efficiency,
transportation, forest management and the most important thing is sustainable development.
Boosting energy efficiency: The energy used to power, heat, and cool our homes,
businesses, and industries is the single largest contributor to global warming. Energy
efficiency technologies allow us to use less energy to get the same—or higher—level of
production, service, and comfort. This approach has vast potential to save both energy
and money, and can be deployed quickly.
Greening transportation: The transportation sector's emissions have increased at a faster
rate than any other energy-using sector over the past decade. A variety of solutions are at
hand, including improving efficiency in all modes of transport, switching to low-carbon
fuels, and reducing vehicle miles travelled through smart growth and more efficient mass
transportation systems.
Revving up renewables: Renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal and
bio energy are available around the world. Multiple studies have shown that renewable
energy has the technical potential to meet the vast majority of our energy needs.
Renewable technologies can be deployed quickly, are increasingly cost-effective, and
create jobs while reducing pollution.
Phasing out fossil fuel electricity: Dramatically reducing our use of fossil fuels
especially carbon-intensive coal is essential to tackle climate change. There are many
ways to begin this process. Key action steps include: not building any new coal-burning
power plants, initiating a phased shutdown of coal plants starting with the oldest and
dirtiest, and capturing and storing carbon emissions from power plants. While it may
sound like science fiction, the technology exists to store carbon emissions underground.
The technology has not been deployed on a large scale or proven to be safe and
permanent, but it has been demonstrated in other contexts such as oil and natural gas
recovery. Demonstration projects to test the viability and costs of this technology for
power plant emissions are worth pursuing.

5. Managing forests and agriculture: Taken together, tropical deforestation and emissions
from agriculture represent nearly 30 percent of the world's heat-trapping emissions. We
can fight global warming by reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation
and by making our food production practices more sustainable.
Developing and deploying new low-carbon and zero-carbon technologies: Research
into and development of the next generation of low-carbon technologies will be critical to
deep mid-century reductions in global emissions. Current research on battery technology,
new materials for solar cells, harnessing energy from novel sources like bacteria and
algae, and other innovative areas could provide important breakthroughs.
Ensuring sustainable development: The countries of the world from the most to the least
developed vary dramatically in their contributions to the problem of climate change and in
their responsibilities and capacities to confront it. A successful global compact on climate
change must include financial assistance from richer countries to poorer countries to help
make the transition to low-carbon development pathways and to help adapt to the impacts
of climate change.
CONCLUSION
The adapting to changes already begin, the impacts of a warming world are already being felt by
people around the globe. Past and current emissions suggest that it is too late to completely
prevent a change in climate, so we will have to learn to live with the consequences. The most
important option that communities and government must be focus now is to develop local and
national strategies in which Mitigation and Adaptation plans complement each other.