Rising sea levels could see demise of half of the world's beaches by end of this century. Climate scientists predict that 50 per cent of sandy beaches along world's coastlines could vanish over next eight decades if climate change continues on its current path. The scientists are from European Commission's Joint Research Centre. They warned that shorelines of many highly-populated areas and tourist hot-spots are threatened by erosion from climate change and surging sea levels. Areas at risk of disappearing forever include well-known, popular beaches in Australia's Surfers' Paradise, islands of Hawaii, Brazil's Copacabana Beach, and Costa del Sol in Spain.
scientists reported that countries like The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau in Africa are predicted to lose over 60% of their beaches. country to be worst affected is Australia, where 12,000km of coastline could end up underwater forever. The researchers wrote that: " substantial proportion of the world's sandy coastline is already eroding, situation that could be exacerbated by climate change. [This]...could result in near extinction of the world's sandy beaches by end of the century." Research co-author Dr Michalis Vousdoukas said there were two important ways we could reduce this trend and save beaches. He said we had to, "reduce emissions and manage our coastline in more sustainable way".
