Current and future sea level rise is set to have a number of impacts, particularly on coastal systems. Such impacts include increased coastal erosion, higher storm-surge flooding, inhibition of primary production processes, more extensive coastal inundation, changes in surface water quality and groundwater characteristics, increased loss of property and coastal habitats, increased flood risk and potential loss of life, loss of non-monetary cultural resources and values, impacts on agriculture and aquaculture through decline in soil and water quality, and loss of tourism, recreation, and transportation functions. 356Many of these impacts are detrimental. Owing to the great diversity of coastal environments; regional and local differences in projected relative sea level and climate changes; and differences in the resilience and adaptive capacity of ecosystems, sectors, and countries, the impacts will be highly variable in time and space. River deltas in Africa and Asia and small island states are particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise. Globally tens of millions of people will be displaced in the latter decades of the century if greenhouse gases are not reduced drastically. Many coastal areas have large population growth, which results in more people at risk from sea level rise. The rising seas pose both a direct risk: unprotected homes can be flooded, and indirect threats of higher storm surges, tsunamis and king tides. Asia has the largest population at risk from sea level with countries such as Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam having very densely populated coastal areas. The effects of displacement are very dependent on how successful governments will be in implementing defences against the rising sea, with concerns for the poorest countries such as sub-Saharan countries and island nations.
We have below publications in this theme:
Mills, M., Leon, J. X., Saunders, M. I., Bell, J., Liu, Y., O'Mara, J., ... & Tulloch, V. J. (2016). Reconciling development and conservation under coastal squeeze from rising sea level. Conservation Letters, 9(5), 361-368.
Ward, A., Dargusch, P., Thomas, S., Liu, Y., & Fulton, E. A. (2014). A global estimate of carbon stored in the world's mountain grasslands and shrublands, and the implications for climate policy. Global environmental change, 28, 14-24.