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Valencia, a city and province in south-east Spain, became synonymous with disaster in October 2024 when floods killed at least 231 people. Extreme rainfall will happen more often as the climate warms and the cost to coastal cities like Valencia is expected to reach up to US$63 billion (£50 billion) annually by 2050.
Lakes, reservoirs, lagoons, marshlands and mangroves would have once formed a barrier between these cities and the sea. Saucer-shaped coastal wetlands that remain on their fringes still provide drinking water, fishing and farming. But they could also be invaluable in mitigating future floods.
