Why is rising sea levels bad

New canals were built in the s to improve water quality and reduce epidemic outbreaks of cholera. Several decades after catastrophic floods killed over 1, people in , the Maesland Barrier was constructed. Across the Netherlands, cities like Rotterdam are converting ponds, garages, parks and plazas into part-time reservoirs.

Chinese cities are also taking action to mitigate and adapt to sea-level rise. As in the case of the Netherlands, the Chinese were motivated in part by disaster. In , floods killed roughly 4, people when the Yangtze River basin overflowed.

A growing number of big cities such as Beijing — which more than doubled its total land coverage in the last decade — are also suffering a rise in floods. The Chinese government has responded with a combination of hard engineering, environmental and people-based strategies, together with the relocation of millions of citizens. In , China launched the so-called sponge city initiative. The term actually originated in Hyderabad when the city authorities started collecting storm-water to offset water demand during planting season.

More than 30 cities are currently part of the initiative including Shanghai — one of the most flood-prone cities in the world. The Chinese expect that at least another cities will join in the coming decade. The city is already rocked by two to three typhoons every year. Shanghai is also sinking, albeit less slowly than Jakarta. To reduce its exposure to rising seas, Shanghai has constructed km of protective seawalls that stretch across the Hangzhou Bay and encircle the islands of Chongming, Hengsha and Changxing.

As in the case of Rotterdam, Shanghai has also installed massive mechanical gates to regulate overflowing rivers. South East Asian cities are busily building defences against sea level rise.

For example, Jakarta is building a massive sea wall with Dutch support, and is planning to relocate , people from threatened riverbanks and reservoirs.

Critics, however, fear that the city is not doing enough to address groundwater issues that are causing the city to sink. Bangkok, which faces similar challenges to Jakarta, has also laid out a 2,km canal network and central park with a capacity to drain 4 million litres into underground containers.

Some Thai parliamentarians fear that the only way forward is a managed retreat, moving the capital further inland. But arguably the most dramatic responses to rising sea levels are occurring in those parts of the world that are most acutely at risk. Small island nations such as Kiribati, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands and the Maldives could be literally wiped off the map. Kiribati is negotiating to buy 5, acres of land in neighbouring Fiji onto which to move its , citizens if necessary.

The Marshall Islands face a similarly stark choice: leave or elevate. The country is looking for ways to reclaim land and build islands that are high enough to withstand rising seas. And the Maldives — the poster-child for rising sea levels — is attempting to reclaim, fortify and build new islands , and relocate when necessary. Finally, US cities are busily investing billions of dollars to bolster their resistance to rising sea levels.

The system includes a series of massive dam barriers, reinforced levees and flood-walls stretching some km around the city. The city also built a living water system of parks, wetlands and other existing features to reduce reliance on pumping and canals.

It is one of the largest public works projects in US history and the most expensive flood-control system in the world. Boston, Houston, Miami, New York City and dozens of other places are following suit, albeit on different scales. From Asia and Africa to Europe and the Americas, sea-level rise is inevitable. Mitigation efforts must be scaled up. But, precisely because it already poses an existential threat to coastal communities everywhere, adaption is essential.

At a minimum, governments, businesses and citizens need to avoid making a bad situation worse. These freshwater sources of groundwater are how many of us get our drinking water.

This would render much of our tap water unsafe to drink without some sort of desalination. According to Yale E , this effect has already begun. Florida and Bangladesh are already facing problems with seawater contamination.

Irrigation needs freshwater as much as we do, but most of the water used for irrigation comes from underground aquifers. If the seawater contaminates an aquifer unbeknownst to us, that salted water could be unwittingly poured on an entire field of crops, potentially killing everything in sight. The salt could also destroy the soil and all the microorganisms that dwell there, making it even harder for subsequent crops to grow. According to Climate Central , coastal forests will be equally affected.

Trees might be hardier than a crop of rutabagas, but they will still have to work harder to pull water from the salted earth. This might result in stunted slowly desiccated forests all over the world. Climate change: What impact will rising sea levels have? Getty Images. Why is the sea rising? A small boat in western Greenland, dwarfed by icebergs that have come off Greenland's largest glacier.

What effect will rising sea levels have? This coast in Norfolk is eroding partly because of rising sea levels. More like this. Ice shelf melting 10 times faster than expected 1 May 1 May Your Comments Join the conversation. To use comments you will need to have JavaScript enabled. HotFudgeSwirl 22 Jun If the sea levels rise it can not only destroy our homes but ruin the homes of animals and affect the natural environment all around us.

U 21 May We need to do something to help!