Cities like Bangkok must be braced for Climate Change impact says Bill Gates

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has highlighted the vulnerability of the world’s 4.4 billion city dwellers in the face of Climate Change.

And he urged cities and governments to use increased knowledge, data and technology to support urban transformation and adaptation in the face of this threat.

Gates, co-founder of the philanthropic Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, makes his plea in his new book ‘How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need’* (published 16 February).

“Urban areas are home to more than half the people on earth – a proportion that will rise in the years ahead – and they are responsible for more than three-quarters of the world’s economy,” he said.

“As they expand, many of the world’s fast-growing cities end up building over floodplains, forests, and wetlands that could absorb rising waters during a storm or…