EDF Study Shows Threat to Coastal Areas From Sea Level Rise

(18 Nov., 1997 ? New York) The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) released a report, High Water Blues, today which examines the potential impacts of sea level rise due to global warming on coastal regions and small islands around the world. Greenhouse gases, which are created by the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, gasoline, and natural gas, contribute to global warming. Global warming is expected to spur the melting of small glaciers and ice caps on land and the expansion of seawater as it warms, causing global sea levels to rise.

“Contrary to skeptics’ claims, global sea level has been rising over the past century at a rate that is faster than in previous centuries. Moreover, models show it will rise at an even greater rate in the future due to global warming,” said EDF scientist Stuart Gaffin. “Sea level rise and the increasing density of human population near coastal areas are on a collision course.”

EDF’s report is based in part on data studied by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which operates under United Nations auspices and draws on thousands of scientists worldwide to advise governments on the scientific consensus on climate change. The IPCC projects that the Earth will warm by two to six degrees Fahrenheit, and that sea levels will rise by six inches to three feet by the year 2100.

Possible US impacts of a 19 inch rise in sea level (IPCC’s best estimate for 2100) include:

• 10,000 acres coastal upland property lost in Massachusetts;
• Chesapeake Bay marsh islands severely reduced;
• more than 100 feet of erosion on most US beaches;
• almost 800 square miles of dry land lost in Florida.

In addition, international impacts for 2100 may include;

• 10% of Bangladesh’s land lost;
• erosion of all existing beaches in Alexandria, Egypt;
• 600 square kilometers of land in Japan presently above mean high tide will be below it;
• 40% of the Pacific’s Marshall Islands will be inundated.

“With governments planning to meet in December in Kyoto, Japan to strengthen the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, this report underscores the scientific basis for decisive action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and should bring home the realities of climate change and sea level rise to representatives attending the Kyoto Climate summit,” said EDF chief scientist Dr. Michael Oppenheimer