Failures of urban planning are putting lives, infrastructure and businesses at risk as weather shocks – like the floods now surging through Bangkok – become more frequent as a result of climate change, urban planning and climate experts say.

But focusing on improving building codes, land use regulation, public health and sanitation, and disaster response measures could help reduce risks, said David Dodman, leader of the cities and climate team at the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development, which works on sustainable development issues.

The inconvenient truth is that coal remains a cheap and dirty fuel — and the idea of 'clean' coal remains a distant dream

WASHINGTON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The world's governments and relief agencies need to plan now to resettle millions of people expected to be displaced by climate change, an international panel of experts said on Thursday.

Resettlement related to large infrastructure development projects has been occurring for decades, with some estimates of up to 10 million people a year, said the report's lead author, Alex de Sherbinin.

The world is becoming a hungrier place - consuming more food, fuel and material resources - as its population bulges. But the increase in consumption is not even and not driven by the same factors. China and India are consuming more because their populations have vastly increased in the past 40 years. The United States, Japan and many countries in Europe are having much less population growth, but the people are using more resources. Meanwhile, many in South American and African countries have had relatively small population growth and much less increase in consumption.