China hopes to fight climate change by building sponge cities

Climate change is a growing issue and with each passing day it is becoming worse. China, however, is taking its consequences very seriously and thus has decided to develop ‘sponge cities’ in order to fight it.

Growing climate change can lead to frequent and more severe flooding. The Sponge City Initiative, launched back in 2015, invests in projects that are primarily focused on absorbing the floodwater thus the name ‘sponge’. With the designs being already investigated in 30 various cities, including Shanghai, Wuhan, and Xiamen, the current objective of the project is to re-use around 70% of rainwater in 80% of China’s urban areas by 2020.

The explored 30 cities have gotten more than $12 billion in funding for sponge projects. The federal government provides with 15% to 20% of this funding whereas, the local government and private investors provide the rest of it.

China builds world’s first green ‘Forest City’

As CNN reports, a city in Shanghai’s district, Lingang, is trying to become the world’s largest sponge city to date. The city’s efforts are backed up by $119 million finances from city government.

Up till now, the city has started creating wetlands that store rainwater, begun planting on rooftops and laying down permeable roads that can store runoff water within them. Back in early 2016, Shanghai also declared the construction of 4.3 million square feet of rooftop gardens all over the city.

Climate change has claimed numerous lives of people around the globe. In 2010, almost 700 people died and 300 went missing due to landslides and flooding in China. This year in July, 56 people were killed with entire towns being destroyed due to excessive rain and flooding in China. The program could be an effective and creative way to reduce this deadly issue. Due to this project, other cities might also follow the suit, stated Business Insider.