Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe ... - MemoFin.fr

Climate impacts on environmental systems3.2 Coastal zones3.2.1 OverviewRelevanceCoastal zones in Europe are centres of populationand economic activity. They are inhabitedby diverse ecosystems, in particular wetlandecosystems. Projected climate change, includingsea-level rise and associated changes in frequencyand/or intensity of storm surges and erosion,threaten human and natural systems at the coastsin various ways. Management of the coastal zonesneeds to consider the multiple functions of manycoastal areas, which is increasingly occurringthrough integrated coastal zone management.Adaptation policies also need to consider the fullrange of adaptation options, including measuressuch as dike building, beach nourishment,rehabilitation of coastal ecosystems, area-relatedmeasures, integrated coastal zone management,and elaboration and distribution of flood hazardand flood risk maps for costal zones according tothe Flood Risk Management Directive.Selection of indicatorsThis section presents the following indicators onthreats to the coastal zone that are sensitive toclimate change:• Global and European sea-level rise;• Storm surges.The final section presents information on coastalerosion. This information is not presented as an EEAindicator because regular updates of the underlyinginformation base cannot be expected.Another important risk in low-lying coastalregions is salt-water intrusion into freshwaterreservoirs. Salt-water intrusion can be caused byrelative sea‐level rise and by overexploitation ofgroundwater resources. It can threaten freshwatersupply, agriculture and ecosystems in coastalregions. However, current data availability isinsufficient for developing an indicator on salt-waterintrusion. Information on ecological impacts ofclimate change is not presented in this report due toa lack of data at European scale. Further informationon the economic and health risks associated withsea-level rise is presented in Section 5.5.2.Key messages: 3.2 Coastal zones• Projected sea-level rise, possible changes in the frequency and intensity of storm surges and theresulting coastal erosion are expected to have major impacts on low-lying coastal areas across Europe.• Future global mean sea-level rise in the 21st century is likely to be greater than during the20th century. It is more likely to be less than 1 m than to be more than 1 m.• Projections of changes in storms currently have high uncertainty. Increases in extreme coastal waterlevels will likely be dominated by increases in local relative mean sea level rather than by changes instorm activity in most locations.• Coastal erosion in Europe causes significant ecological damage, economic loss and other societalproblems. About one quarter of the European coastline for which data is available is currently eroding.Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe 2012101