Place d’Armes and the Caudan area were submerged. Even the floor (already 1 metre
above outside ground level) of the Port Louis museum was covered with some
50–60 cm of water.
Around the island, at Le Morne, Flic en Flac, Grand Baie, Belle Mare, the roads
are built on sand. No doubt, a very suitable, compact foundation material for road
construction. There are also many other places where sand can be found inland
(Tamarin, La Prairie, just to name a few) at levels of 4 metres above mean sea level
(amsl). However, this means that, at some time, a few thousand years ago, or more,
the sea came up to these places. Climate change has been taking place since the
beginning of life on Earth. If the sea was there a few thousand years ago, well, we
can wait another few thousand years, before the reverse happens again.
Not so, say the Climate Change proponents. Not only can catastrophic events
happen, such as:
(1) the extinction of dinosaurs,
(2) the yearly rainfall over California rose to 38.18 inches (the average for the
period of 1877 to 2016 (139 years) is 14.77 inches) following the eruption of
Krakatoa in 1883,
(3) heavy rains in 1960 and 2013 in Mauritius – not to speak of other times,
(4) the climate change indicators (average air temperature, carbon dioxide
levels, etc.,
but, all indicators seem to show that the change in the reverse direction – at least in
the present decades and century – is taking place much faster.
In that sense, we do have to worry about the impacts of climate change on
infrastructure. Leaving a seaside bungalow as inheritance to our grandchildren
may have all good intentions, but if getting there, involves wading on a submerged
road to find a swimming pool within four walls under a roof, surely there has been
some bad planning. It has been said that we can only address sustainable development by safeguarding development for the next and successive generations, by
bequeathing a comfortable infrastructure to the next generation which it can build
upon: this is the principle of intergenerational equity.
Table 10.1 shows the categories of infrastructure on which the population
depends for everyday life.
Infrastructure, as detailed above, has several common qualities:
• Most infrastructure assets exhibit (see Chap. 17) some characteristics of a public
good, showing some qualities of jointness and nonexclusivity in providing
benefits, costs excluded. As a result, just as several other public goods, similar
free rider problems enter the infrastructure sector.
• Infrastructure assets, even without having an independent, intrinsic market value
(who wants to buy a road or dam), and are not always built to generate profits.
However, their value lies as a necessary input in many production processes.
• Infrastructure generally has a long-life, but needs regular and periodic maintenance and eventual component replacement. Unfortunately, however basic maintenance and infrastructure repair are not usually placed in the upper parts of high
public priority. As a result, infrastructure usually receives little regular funding,
which leads to infrastructure being quite vulnerable to climate-induced damage.
10.1 Introduction
281
above outside ground level) of the Port Louis museum was covered with some
50–60 cm of water.
Around the island, at Le Morne, Flic en Flac, Grand Baie, Belle Mare, the roads
are built on sand. No doubt, a very suitable, compact foundation material for road
construction. There are also many other places where sand can be found inland
(Tamarin, La Prairie, just to name a few) at levels of 4 metres above mean sea level
(amsl). However, this means that, at some time, a few thousand years ago, or more,
the sea came up to these places. Climate change has been taking place since the
beginning of life on Earth. If the sea was there a few thousand years ago, well, we
can wait another few thousand years, before the reverse happens again.
Not so, say the Climate Change proponents. Not only can catastrophic events
happen, such as:
(1) the extinction of dinosaurs,
(2) the yearly rainfall over California rose to 38.18 inches (the average for the
period of 1877 to 2016 (139 years) is 14.77 inches) following the eruption of
Krakatoa in 1883,
(3) heavy rains in 1960 and 2013 in Mauritius – not to speak of other times,
(4) the climate change indicators (average air temperature, carbon dioxide
levels, etc.,
but, all indicators seem to show that the change in the reverse direction – at least in
the present decades and century – is taking place much faster.
In that sense, we do have to worry about the impacts of climate change on
infrastructure. Leaving a seaside bungalow as inheritance to our grandchildren
may have all good intentions, but if getting there, involves wading on a submerged
road to find a swimming pool within four walls under a roof, surely there has been
some bad planning. It has been said that we can only address sustainable development by safeguarding development for the next and successive generations, by
bequeathing a comfortable infrastructure to the next generation which it can build
upon: this is the principle of intergenerational equity.
Table 10.1 shows the categories of infrastructure on which the population
depends for everyday life.
Infrastructure, as detailed above, has several common qualities:
• Most infrastructure assets exhibit (see Chap. 17) some characteristics of a public
good, showing some qualities of jointness and nonexclusivity in providing
benefits, costs excluded. As a result, just as several other public goods, similar
free rider problems enter the infrastructure sector.
• Infrastructure assets, even without having an independent, intrinsic market value
(who wants to buy a road or dam), and are not always built to generate profits.
However, their value lies as a necessary input in many production processes.
• Infrastructure generally has a long-life, but needs regular and periodic maintenance and eventual component replacement. Unfortunately, however basic maintenance and infrastructure repair are not usually placed in the upper parts of high
public priority. As a result, infrastructure usually receives little regular funding,
which leads to infrastructure being quite vulnerable to climate-induced damage.
10.1 Introduction
281