14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers writing in a recent issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences warn that, by the end of the 21st century, the damage bill that global coastal regions receive on a yearly basis is likely to greatly increase.
More precisely, specialists who have taken the time to examine how climate change and global warming will affect said areas estimate that, within said time frame, storm surge flooding has high chances to get a new price tag of $1 trillion (€0.73 trillion).
To put things into perspective, it must be said that, for the time being, storm surge flooding causes some $10-40 billion (€7.39-29.59 billion) worth of damage to global coastal areas each year.
In their paper, the researchers detail that, all things considered, climate change and global warming will not be the only culprit behind the predicted increase in annual coastal damage.
Thus, they say that, although said phenomenon will be the ones to blame for extreme weather events and rising sea levels, human society's fondness of expansion and economic growth in coast regions will also have a say in the matter.
“If we do not reduce greenhouse gases swiftly and substantially, some regions will have to seriously consider relocating significant numbers of people in the longer run,” says study lead author Jochen Hinkel with the Global Climate Forum.
“This long-term perspective is however a challenge to bring about, as coastal development tends to be dominated by short-term interests of, for example, real-estate and tourism companies, which prefer to build directly at the waterfront with little thought about the future,” he adds, as cited by the Alpha Galileo Foundation.
Despite these gloomy predictions for the not so distant future, the researchers who carried out this investigation say that, should high officials agree to invest in coastal protection measures, the overall damage expected to be caused by storm surge flooding can be reduced to a considerable extent.
Specifically, yearly investments of $10-80 billion (€7.39-59.18 billion) could keep it below $80 billion (€59.18 billion) by the end of the 21st century. Given the fact that they are already struggling with storm surge flooding, Asia and Africa should be the first to benefit from such investments.