As ocean levels swell, an English coast crumbles

[skids]

BECCLES, England: This winter a 50-foot-wide strip of Roger Middleditch's sugar beet field fell into the North Sea, his rich East Anglian lands reduced by a large fraction of their acreage. The adjacent potato field, once 23 acres, is now less than 3 - too small to plant at all, he said.

...

Coastal erosion has been a fact of life here for a century, because the land under East Anglia is slowly sinking. But the erosion has never been as quick and cataclysmic as it has been in recent years - an effect of climate change and global warming, according to many scientists. To make matters worse for coastal farmers, the British government has stopped maintaining large parts of the network of seawalls that once protected the area.

...

As climate change has accelerated erosion on the east coast of Britain, many scientists and politicians have decided it is no longer viable to defend land here.

Under the policy of managed retreat, farmland, nature preserves and even small villages are surrendered to the water.

"This land is very sensitive to climate change because it is very low-lying and doesn't tolerate high temperatures like we've had the last few summers," said David Viner, a climate expert at the University of East Anglia. "The government will only protect land it thinks of as economically important, and on an economic level you can say that makes sense but of course that's not the whole picture."

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/13/business/erode.php

[lovuian]

1. Thats how it happens

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3jwnasMc-M
The Earth cracks and the sea swallows it up

[PaulaFarrell]

2. Managed retreat is not about 'surrendering land to the sea'

it's about restoring tidal wetlands by removing sea defences. East Anglia used to be covered in fens until it was drained. Restoring wetlands is actually good for the environment and also helps protect agsinst floods, as it gives the water somewhere to go suring storm surges and high tides. Obviously rising sea level plays a part in the economic decision, but trying to imply that nature is suffering by 'surrendering' nature reerves to the sea is very misleading. It's probably much more important overall to re-establish wetlands, especially as who knows what will happen regarding bird migrations etc. in the future. It's actually a very positive move in my view.

[skids]

3. It doesn't really sound to me like wetlands are being created...

... more than the land is disappearing into the seas, which are not as calm as they used to be.

[PaulaFarrell]

4. that has been happening on the east coast for centuries

probably millenia, because these are very soft chalk cliffs. It's well-documented. Other areas of the coast are actually accumulting. It's the natural cycle. However, when this happens to someone's property they are naturally upset and it makes great newspaper copy. We lost a large chunk of cliff near me several years ago but no one really cared as it was a protected area anyway - no on owned it. Cliff falls are also necessary to recharge the beaches. There are two issues: erosion of cliffs (natural and inevitable) and removing sea defences of low-lying land (managed retreat). The article brought up the term 'managed retreat' implying that it was destructive. It is actually a positive anticipation of the effects of climate change which will help buy some time, but there are a lot of farmers and other landoweners who feel sold out by the process.