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How humans and rising seas affect each other

The Paris climate agreement aims to limit global warming to no more than 2 °C. An analysis suggests that this will greatly reduce the risks of sea-level rise for coastal communities, but that it will take time to see the benefit.
  1. Aimée Slangen

    1. Aimée Slangen is in the Department of Estuarine and Delta Systems, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research and Utrecht University, 4401 NT Yerseke, the Netherlands.

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Coastal zones are among the most densely populated areas in the world1, but they are threatened by rising sea levels caused by climate change. Writing in Earth’s Future, Brown et al.2 estimate the impact of sea-level rise in terms of the land area and the number of people exposed, for several scenarios in which global warming is limited to different temperature increases. Their study shows that the amount of exposure to sea-level rise depends on our ability to cap global temperature changes, and that the main benefits of this cap will be seen only after 2100.

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Nature 558, 196-197 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-05366-9

References

  1. McGranahan, G., Balk, D. & Anderson, B. Environ. Urban. 19, 17–37 (2007).

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  2. Brown, S. et al. Earth’s Future 6, 583–600 (2018).

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  3. Goodwin, P. Clim. Dyn. 47, 2219–2233 (2016).

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  4. Slangen, A. B. A. et al. Clim. Change 124, 317–332 (2014).

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  5. Vafeidis, A. T. et al. J. Coast. Res. 24, 917–924 (2008).

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