Climate change puts coastal Japan at great risk: report

apan's population has been identified as being at great risk from rising sea levels and more intense cyclones linked to climate change, research released Wednesday revealed.

In the first global study of its kind, the International Institute for Environment and Development, based in Britain, highlighted Japan as the country with the sixth-largest number of people -- a total of 30,477,000 -- living within 10 meters of the average sea level.

In fact, on a map showing population density across the country, many of Japan's largest urban areas, including Tokyo, Kawasaki, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka and Sapporo, have over 1,000 people per sq. km living within the worrying 10-meter elevation coastal zone.

The report cites the "recent expansion of international trade" and Japan's preference for ocean shipping over air freight as contributing factors to the pre-eminence of densely populated urban hubs along the country's coastline.

Report author Gordon McGranahan insists the future is not completely bleak for Japan, however, providing that measures are taken "now."

from the Japan Times