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