Warning of harshening climate change in Euro-Mediterranean region
A newly published report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) warns that Europe’s regions are facing rising sea levels and more extreme weather due to climate change. The report assesses the latest trends and projections on climate change and its impacts. The southern region is projected to become the continent’s climate change hotspot. It is already experiencing large increases in heat extremes and decreases in precipitation and river flows, which have heightened the risk of more severe droughts, lower crop yields, biodiversity loss and forest fires. More frequent heat waves and changes in the distribution of climate-sensitive infectious diseases are expected to increase risks to human health and well-being.
Mediterranean coastal areas are particularly vulnerable as they face an increased risk of flooding from rising sea levels and a possible increase in storm surges. Global sea level has risen by 19.5 cm from 1901 to 2015 at an average rate of 1.7 mm/year. Since 1993, when satellite measurements have been available, a higher rate of 3 mm/year has been recorded. According to the World Bank, rising sea level may affect 43 port cities in the Middle East and North Africa region. Coastal waters in Alexandria, Egypt, are inching closer to buildings, seeping into the groundwater. As recently reported in the Guardian, this is making foundations more fragile, that may result in the collapse of some of the city’s buildings. Many cafe managers in the city are already fighting against rising sea levels, by building defences against winter storms. Rising sea levels and seawater temperatures will also increase the salinity of the Nile, endangering farmland across the Delta.
The impact of climate change is becoming increasingly hard to ignore. New records continue to be set on global and regional temperatures. Improved climate projections provide further evidence that climate-related extremes will increase, and better and more flexible adaptation strategies, policies and measures will be crucial. As stated by Hans Bruyninckx, EEA Executive Director ‘The scale of future climate change and its impacts will depend on the effectiveness of implementing our global agreements to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but also ensuring that we have the right adaptation strategies and policies in place to reduce the risks from current and projected climate extremes’.