Coastal flooding across the world is set to rise by around 50 per cent due to climate change in the next 80 years, endangering millions more people and trillions of US dollars more of coastal infrastructure, new research shows.
The study, led by the University of Melbourne and involving the University of East Anglia (UEA), shows the land area exposed to an extreme flood event will increase by more than 250,000 square kilometres globally, an increase of 48 per cent or over 800,000 square kilometres.
This would mean about 77 million more people will be at risk of experiencing flooding, a rise of 52 per cent to 225 million. The economic risk in terms of the infrastructure exposed will rise by up to $US14.2 trillion, which represents 20 per cent of global GDP.
The analysis, published today in Springer Nature’s Scientific Reports, is based on a climate scenario where carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations in the atmosphere continue to rise rapidly.
Read more at University of East Anglia
Photo Credit: Katia_M via Pixabay