IHCantabria participated in a study on the impact of climate change on Panama City’s urban transportation system
Rainy day on a Panama City street
The results of this study and its recommendations will serve as a guide for planning and implementing climate adaptation strategies in Panama City and other cities facing similar challenges in the region
Two researchers from the Environmental Hydraulics Institute of Cantabria(IHCantabria), Elsa Cacho Taeño and Natalia Sampedro Carral, contributed to an innovative study on disaster risk and the impact of climate change on Panama City’s public transportation system. The results of the study, financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), have been included in the Technical Note No. IDB-TN-02991, published in October 2024, entitled “Disaster risk and climate change in Panama City’s urban transportation system”.
This study provides a comprehensive assessment of the current and future risks facing public transportation infrastructure in the Panama City Metropolitan Area (AMCP), in a context of climate change. As reported by Elsa Cacho Taeño, this research “identifies and quantifies the effects of climate hazards such as floods and extreme heat waves, which represent significant risks for users and transportation infrastructure”. This effort is part of the IDB’s commitment to promote climate resilience in Latin American and Caribbean cities.
The assessment concludes that flood events with a 5-year return period currently affect 0.5% of the bus stops and 33.3% of the operating facilities of the public transportation system, impacting approximately 1,116 users in each event. However, under a 2050 climate change scenario (SSP2-4.5 scenario), the number of stops and users affected would increase considerably. Lower probability events, with 100-year return periods, will affect up to 6.2% of shutdowns and 50% of operating facilities, with more than 7,800 users exposed in such events.
To conduct the assessment, an analysis was developed based on data from 1,470 bus stops and six operational centers, using digital terrain models to identify areas of potential flooding. The study also considers exposure to extreme heat through the heat index, integrating temperature and relative humidity factors, which are crucial for the health of users and staff.
“In addition to providing a detailed diagnosis of current and future risk, the study suggests priority areas for intervention and adaptation measures that can mitigate the impact of these phenomena,” says Natalia Sampedro Carral. Among the recommendations are green and blue infrastructures, such as bio-retention areas (depressions in the soil where plant species are added to retain, infiltrate and evacuate rainwater to the city’s conventional drainage system) and green roofs, as well as improvements in urban drainage. The report also highlights the need to improve inter-institutional coordination and the regulatory framework to effectively implement climate adaptation measures.
The results of the aforementioned study, recently published in an IDB Technical Note, constitute a step forward in the creation of more resilient and sustainable cities, a key objective for Latin American cities in the face of the increasing incidence of extreme weather events.
The full contents of the IDB Technical Note can be accessed through the following link: http://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0013187
