INTRODUCTION
Global climate change consequences have been seen all around the world. Consequences of global climate change are connected and interlinked. The rising of global temperature is causing the global shrinking of glaciers and melting of ice. This is further causing the rising tides and land erosion with the ocean acidification and the destruction of ecosystems. All the consequences are changing geographical range of different species and destroying the ecosystems with putting the species at risks because they are not able to adapt to changes. The oceans are getting warmer which is causing more severe and unpredictable weather patterns with droughts, heat waves, floods, fires and hurricanes that affect all living beings. The human health and basic human food production with unstable environment is based on the modeling going to face even bigger challenges in the future. The paper will present the global problem of rising tides and land erosion, the causes, consequences and actions how to decrease the trend and how to avoid future vulnerabilities.
The sea level is rising because of the increased concentration of greenhouse gases that are warming the atmosphere and oceans which is causing the thermal expansions of water and the melting of ice and glaciers (Gandi, 2015). The rising CO2 in the atmosphere is affecting ocean temperature which leads to the rising tide and further erosion of coastal areas (Erlandson, 2012). The main causes of the rising tide are the thermal expansion, melting glaciers and ice caps which are the major contributors to the global sea-level rise (Horikawa, 2013).
With the higher sea level rise and bigger waves the coastal areas are becoming more vulnerable to the erosion, which will have global effects on coastal areas, islands, major delta rivers, the intrusion of salted water with destruction of habitat and putting in risk plants, animals and human lives. NASA has defined the climate change as the change in the usual weather in a place and can be seen in the rain, temperature, month season change and is today showing in the rising temperature, melting snow and ice, rising oceans and growth timing of plants (NASA, n.d.).
DISCUSCION
Human activity
The human activity has contributed to the issue of coastal erosion and rising tide with burning of fossil fuels, mass consumption, industrialization and further pollution with the greater energy consumption, increase used of cars and growing population. Around half of the population today lives in the radius 100 km from the coasts area that have modified the coast surface and have heavily populated the coastal zones and increased the erosion (Erlandson, 2012). The table below represents the components that lead to the global sea-level rise and we can see that they main factors can be partly prescribed to the human activity that has enhanced after the industrialization. The thermal expansion, melting glaciers and ice caps has been estimated to contribute between 2.45 to 0.85 mm of higher tide in each year between 2003 and 2007 (Horikawa, 2013).
Source: Horikawa, 2013.
All human activity that affects the global climate change is contributing to the tide rise and erosion. In comparison to the past human activity with migration to the coast zones contributes even bigger erosion with the intrusion into the environment. Human management and activity on the coastal areas have significantly changed the vegetation that serves as natural barrier in the coastal ecosystems. Human disturbance with transformation have resulted in free coasts that are more vulnerable to coastal erosion, wind and storms that are leading to the reduction of the beaches and loss of habitat. The coastal ecosystems are being degraded by human activity and man-made structures. The erosion will enhance with the sea level rise and bigger waves (Horikawa, 2013).
In comparison with the past the density of the coastal areas has increased with the trend of urbanization and global population growth. The rate of growth is increasing faster in comparison to the hinterland. Most of the megacities are located on the coastal zone and are exposed to the flooding and sea level rise. With the mass migration to the coastal zone the population is putting the pressure on the local ecosystems and natural resources with the pollution and utilization (Neumann, Nicholls, Vafeidis, 2015).
There have been various actions taken in the past and are already currently happening to reduce the consequences of climate change. The most important include various international and national agreements. The most known is the Kyoto protocol and various IPCC actions. Various conferences and meeting on the global scale, such as United Nations Climate Change Conference, Paris agreement that have the single goal to reduce the climate change consequences. There has been seen many actions seen with the more careful coastal planning and layouts of cities, promotion of reduction of energy consumption, improving the transport, developing electronic vehicles with renewable energy that is reducing the CO2 and greenhouse gases. There are various actions taken from the most vulnerable coastal areas and islands such as building direct inundation, breaches and barriers and overtopping. The engineered defenses on one side and on the other natural defenses are the most common precautions. The similar actions are also seen currently with replanting, making barriers such in the case of Orlando and others.
Consequences of climate change
The consequences of local and global climate change to humans and other species inhabiting the ecosystem will be affected by the rising tide and erosion. With the rising tide the erosion is becoming a bigger issue. The graph below shows the rising tide of the past based on the estimation, instrument record and projections with various different climate models for the future. An average rise of global sea level in the 20th century was at about 1.7mm a year. The projections for the future are higher and dependent on the emission scenarios the melting of ice and glaciers have been the largest contributors. The global sea level rise could reach 2.4 meters by the year 2100. Over many centuries or millennia the IPCC predicted the sea level could rise several meters (IPCC, 2014). The rising tide has already affected the developing countries and will have further effect worldwide. China and Bangladesh citizens in the coastal area, islands such as the Maldives, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Galapagos and many others will be flooded and they are confronted with the erosion every day. Venice is going to be under the water, just to mention some and many other important places if the climate changes will continue in this pattern.
The average global sea rising levels and prediction for the future
Source ICPP, 2014.
The coastal areas will be vulnerable to flooding’s, coastal erosion, saltwater intrusions, shoreline relocation and settlement and will be exposed to the unpredicted weather patterns. The number of population living in the areas of possible flooding’s that would be affected by the sea level rise and erosion that are living in the coastal areas was in 2000 estimated at 625 million, which results in the 10.9% of the total population in the same year and more than 80% of them were living in less developed countries. The population density was 241 people /km2 and is expected to increase in the future. The projections were made for the year 2030 and 2060 where from 625 million to 880 million and more than billion by the 2060 people will be leaving the area of coastal zones worldwide and will be vulnerable to the erosion and tide rise. Most affected will be the developing countries and regions. This would result in vast migrations and displacement of people (Neumann, Nicholls, Vafeidis, 2015). Two thirds of the major cities are located in the coastal zones and Climate Central (2014) found out that by the end of this century from 147 to 216 million of people will live below the sea level or regular flood levels. The regulation, adaptation and migration will be part of the future. The cities that will be affected in the United States are Miami, Boston, New York City, Atlantic City, Hawaii, New Orleans, San Diego, Los Angeles, Virginia beach and others. On the global scale the vulnerable and exposed to the rising tide are Tokyo, Hong Kong, Dhaka, Hanoi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Bangladesh, Shanghai, London, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and Jakarta.
The rising tide and erosion has a devastating effect for coastal habitats. With the sea water reach the land it can cause the erosion, contamination of aquifers and agricultural soil, flooding of wetland, loss of fish, birds and plants. More powerful storms are reality with higher sea levels. Coastal ecosystems are affected such as salt marsh, coral reefs and mangroves and are exposed to extinction. Salt water intrusion into the fresh water will affect various animal and plant species and also reduce the quantity of drinkable water for humans. With the erosion of the sandy beaches the higher areas will be more impact along the coastline (Horikawa, 2013). The climate change consequences are leading to the potential extinction of plant and animals. Various different animals will be affected from reduction of habitat for polar bears, sea turtles, fish stock. Forest, mangroves, coral reefs and entire coastal ecosystems and all land living animals will be affected because of the shrinking habitat and disruption of the natural line of eating.
We can find examples of the rising tide and erosion all around the globe. The consequences are most visible on the islands. Tuvalu has been confronting the frequent floods and beachhead erosion. All of the islands are the most exposed to the rising tide and that is why the concerns among the islanders about the climate change are greater but all of the coastlines cities and towns are going to be affected if the trend of CO2 rise continues. The next case included shows the human increased impacts on the climate change consequences the erosion with intrusion techniques and removal of the vegetation. The case of Carey Island Malesia where the mangrove destruction has been seen for the industrial and agricultural purposes resulted in the severe erosion (Hashim, Motamedi, Sofawi, Song, Zakaria, 2014; IPCC, 2014). The cases of coastal erosion can however be seen in America, Canada, Europe, Asia and Africa.
Action needed
The ways humans can attempt to change, minimize, and or reverse the negative impacts of climate change consequences of the rising tide and erosion include the decreasing the density at the coastal areas that is causing further erosion, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, reduction of the vulnerability to future natural disasters and flooding’s with creating more open space and protection mechanism, building of blocks, planting programs of trees and other vegetation that can protect from natural events, green building and promotion of efficient use of energy. Adoption is the key to the reduction of the impacts with the planning, scenarios predictions and measures.
CONCLUSION
Rising tides and coastal erosion are global issues. With the rising of the global sea level with more frequent storms, coastal flooding will become more common and with it also a greater erosion problem. Much of the population is living on the coast areas that are vulnerable to the climate change consequences which will in the future represent an even greater problem. The major megacities in the world are at risk along with the fresh water resources, and habitats for various species. Global actions must be made toward the reduction of possible climate change consequences for with a rising tide and erosion the lives are put at risks and with the extreme weather patterns the migration and possible insecurity can lead to conflicts and disagreements with losing lives all around the globe. Solely focusing on the preventing of rise tide and erosions is not enough, holistic approach to reduce the consequences of climate change is needed.
REFERENCES
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https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg2/
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