Is climate change causing an increase in coastal erosion?
Our climate is changing. This is causing sea levels to rise, and storm patterns are becoming stronger and less predictable. Land levels are also changing. As the huge mass of ice melted away from northern parts of Britain after the last ice age, the land level in the north began to ‘bounce back’ and rise in relation to the sea. At the same time, land began to fall in the south of the country. This is still happening at a rate of a couple of millimetres per year. These combined processes are likely to lead to an increase in coastal erosion in some areas over the next hundred years and more. The natural and man-made barriers that absorb wave energy will become increasingly submerged or prone to damage over time as sea levels rise. This means greater exposure of the coast to the direct impact of the sea. How much coastal erosion rates increase will depend partly on our ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and tackle the effects of global warming. Recent work by the Government’s Fore
