Coastal erosion in the UK

I did coastal erosion in the United Kingdom. Coastal erosion is the wearing away of land or the removal of beach or dune sediments by wave action, tidal currents, wave currents, or drainage. The United kingdom is located in Europe and is surrounded by a body of water. As this body of water continues to rise many people that are living on the coast of the UK are vulnerable to getting there land taken over by water. They are also susceptible to coastal erosion as the water starts to rise. As you can see in the picture to the right, these houses are dangerously close to getting hit by this coastal erosion.

The main idea to escape from this is to try and retreat away. in 2008 there we 6 villages in danger of getting wiped out by coastal erosion. They don't have much time left to actually retreat. Withing the next few years, there is a huge chance that flooding will occur. It already has in the past. All these villages well be under water in the next few years if people don't act. As of now coastal erosion is taking over 17% of the coastline in the UK. The town that will suffer the soonest and also get hit the hardest is a town known as Happisburgh. They have tried to set up concrete, and wooden defenses against the water in the 50s, but that has failed, so they're not going to bother doing it again. To the left you can see how much this town has already suffered.

As of now there are tons of spots along the coastline that are suffering from this devastation. If people do not act quickly, much of the UK could end up under water. As of now many groups of people are trying to support this retreat, and do things such as fundraisers to help earn money to buy these people a new home. If they move they are leaving there home to the sea, but if they Don't act quickly, they could suffer. The picture to my left is Happisburgh in 2008. Imagine how it looks now? It's a matter of time before this beautiful town, falls at the hand of the sea.

Works Cited

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2008/apr/17/1

mccip.org/uk/annual-report-card/2007-2008/marine-environment/coastal-erosion.aspx

The Coastal Erosion of Greece

The country of Greece sits along the north-western coast of the Mediterranean Sea just to the west of Turkey and eat of Italy. Greece has the second most amount of coastline, about 2 thousand kilometers behind the United Kingdom. Much of this coastline is made up of the many islands under the ownership of Greece and 70% of the total coastline is made of rocky outcroppings as shown in Figure 1. This type of coastline is not of

Figure 1

major concern when it comes to coastal erosion. The main problem that Greece has with coastal erosion is how many marine ecosystems and lagoons are located along the other 30% of the coastline and the percentage of the population living in such close proximity to the coast.

           Even though the sea level rise in the Mediterranean sea is nearly negligible, the wave action and general erosion of the marine ecosystems that scatter the coasts of Greece is causing major problems for the wildlife that live there. Not only are many of the wildlife conservations in danger but over 92% of the total population and nearly 60% of the gross national product  reside within 50 km of the shore. This means that from an economical standpoint, if the coast is eroded to a point where it starts to influence human habitation, many people will be displaced alongside the wildlife. 

          Many organizations are attempting to stop erosion with out the help of the government of Greece. There are no laws in effect to prevent coastal erosion but the population of Greece have been encouraged to populate areas away from the coastline and to not expand existing settlements along the coast. As well as moving people, many of these organizations are defining places along the coast that can be built up by humans as well as protecting the beaches to allow the public access. 

 

Works cited

"Greece." Country Overview and Assessment. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. <http://ec.europa.eu/ 
     maritimeaffairs/climate_change/greece_en.pdf>.