By Isabel Siew
As climate change intensifies across Asia and the Pacific, governments and infrastructure planners are facing increasingly complex decisions on how to protect communities, infrastructure and economies from flooding and rising sea levels. According to Paul Seaton, climate & nature director (APAC) at Fugro, those decisions are only as good as the information that supports them.
“Climate adaptation is ultimately an investment decision,” Seaton said. “Governments need to understand where the risks are, what options are available and where funding will deliver the greatest resilience benefits. Reliable geo-data provides that evidence base.”
Fugro gathers a wide range of geo-data, including high-resolution elevation surveys, bathymetry, coastal and river morphology, subsurface geotechnical information and environmental monitoring data. Together, these datasets create detailed digital models that show how water moves across coastlines, rivers, urban environments and surrounding landscapes.
These insights enable engineers to identify flood pathways, vulnerable infrastructure and future climate risks before deciding on the most appropriate interventions.
“Geo-data helps decision-makers move from assumptions to evidence,” Seaton said. “The earlier we understand risk, the more options we have available and the better the outcomes we can achieve.”
A hybrid future for climate resilience
While traditional flood protection has often relied on engineered infrastructure such as seawalls and levees, Seaton believes the industry is moving towards a more balanced approach. “The future is increasingly hybrid,” he noted. “It is not nature-based solutions or hard infrastructure — it is both.”
As understanding of natural systems improves, engineers are increasingly combining conventional infrastructure with nature-based measures such as wetlands, mangroves and natural floodplains to deliver more resilient and sustainable outcomes.
“Nature can often provide protection, reduce maintenance costs and support local livelihoods at the same time. The key is understanding where those solutions will be most effective, and that again comes back to good data,” Seaton explained.
Different challenges across Asia and the Pacific
Although climate risks affect both Asia and the Pacific, Seaton noted that the challenges vary considerably.
He described many Pacific island nations as among the world’s most climate-vulnerable communities, where even a few centimetres of elevation can determine whether land remains habitable or becomes permanently inundated.
“Pacific islands tend to be low-lying, so just a few centimetres of elevation is the difference between safety and inundation,” Seaton said. When land is limited, adaptation is not simply an infrastructure challenge. It is a social, economic and national development challenge.
Unlike many parts of mainland Asia, where larger land areas may provide more adaptation options, small island nations often have nowhere to retreat. “The Pacific islands have nowhere to retreat to, so we need to address those concerns now,” Seaton noted.
Across Asia, the challenge is often one of scale and complexity. Larger populations, extensive infrastructure networks and diverse landscapes require even more comprehensive datasets to support long-term planning.
Data that changed the plan
One of the strongest examples of geo-data informing climate adaptation is the Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project, funded through the Green Climate Fund.
Working across Tuvalu’s nine atolls between 2019 and 2020, Fugro collected detailed geo-data to support the country’s climate adaptation programme, funded through the Green Climate Fund.
The findings significantly altered the original plans. Rather than constructing seawalls around the capital, Funafuti, the data revealed more effective alternatives. Sand reclamation from the inner lagoon could be used to raise land levels, creating new areas suitable for future development while improving long-term resilience.
“Without the data, those options may never have been identified. Having reliable information gave stakeholders the ability to evaluate alternatives, make informed choices and invest with confidence,” Seaton explained.
The project has since encouraged other Pacific nations to begin collecting geo-data much earlier in their own adaptation planning processes.
“Capture the data early and you will be able to plan better and make better decisions,” he added.
Protecting people first
While infrastructure remains important, Seaton emphasised that resilience projects should ultimately focus on protecting communities rather than simply safeguarding physical assets. “The focus of our work is really around protecting people more than places,” he said.
Fugro adopts a co-design approach, working closely with local communities to understand livelihoods, priorities and areas of cultural and economic importance before developing adaptation strategies. “Protecting assets is important, but it is really about protecting people, communities and their livelihoods,” Seaton noted.
Building resilience through better information
Looking ahead, Seaton believes reliable geo-data will become even more critical as climate risks continue to evolve.
Across Asia and the Pacific, climate risk is increasingly complex and costly.
“The common thread for every successful resilience strategy is access to reliable geo-data. Better information leads to better decisions, better investments and ultimately more resilient communities,” Seaton concluded.
All images courtesy of Fugro.
