Climate change and coastal management on Europe's coast

Climate change and sea-level rise due to human emissions of greenhouse gases is expected to accelerate through the 21st Century. Even given substantial reductions in these emissions, sea-level rise will probably be significant through the 21st Century and beyond. This poses a major challenge to long-term coastal management. While Europe has a high adaptive capacity, climate change will produce problems that have not been faced previously, and solutions need to be reconciled with the wider goals of coastal management. A recent European survey of the current response to sea-level rise and climate change shows a few countries engaged in proactive planning, while most are ignoring the issue, or only beginning to recognise its significance. While a proactive response should minimise the actual impacts and need for reactive responses, ignoring sea-level rise and climate change will almost certainly increase vulnerability.

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