Some British coastal communities will “inevitably” be forced to flee their homes as climate change erodes their shores, the head of the British Environment Agency (EA) warned today.
EA CEO Sir James Bevan is expected to say that rising sea levels – fueled by warmer oceans and melting ice – will mean that “some of our communities – both in this country and around the world – they can’t stay where they are “.
“Although we can return safely and build better after most river floods, there is no going back for land that has been washed away by coastal erosion or that has been constantly or frequently submerged by rising sea levels,” Sir James said in a speech. at the Flood and Coastal Conference in Telford.
He will argue that while the goal should be to keep communities where they are, in some places it would make economic and humanitarian sense to move them out of danger instead of trying to protect them from the “growing threat of floods from rivers, seas, and surface waters, as well as coastal erosion. “
Sir James’s recognition of a planned retreat has been welcomed by climate scientists, who warn that sea levels will continue to rise – in some areas beyond our ability to adapt.
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Professor Robert Nichols, director of the Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research, called it “timely formal recognition of a major problem that has been predictable for some time but is easy to ignore as it is slowly becoming apparent”.
Professor Ilan Kelman, a professor of disaster and health at University College London, said leaving the community was “devastating” but “nothing new for England and Wales”.
The Welsh village of Fairburn has been told it will have to relocate as the Guinness Council cannot maintain flood defenses indefinitely. Low-lying pain in the East of England, which accounts for 7% of British agricultural production, is partly below sea level due to drainage.
A recent report by the UN’s IPCC, an international group of climate scientists, predicts that coastal flood damage in Europe will increase at least tenfold by the end of this century and even more if we do not change the way people live in these areas.
In the United Kingdom, one million people are expected to be exposed to annual coastal floods by the end of this century.
Sir James’s remarks came when EA launched a new plan to prepare Britain for floods and changes in the coast.
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The Authority seeks to improve flood risk assessments and mapping, as well as information on investment decisions. It is also directing £ 150 million to 25 new innovative projects to tackle the threat of floods and coastal change.
Jim Hall, a professor of climate and environmental risk at Oxford University, said: “Even if the Environment Agency can afford to build coastal protection everywhere – which it can’t – things many people value on the coast, such as beaches and sand dunes, we will eventually be sinking, unless we start planning now on how the coastline can adjust to rising sea levels. “
He called for “honest talks” in coastal communities for the future and a strategic approach to sustainable coastal governance.
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