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Sea levels are expected to rise a metre by 2100 as a direct consequence of global warming. This will be a key topic at the UN’s COP26 environmental summit, which begins Sunday in Glasgow. French organisations and communities are already hard at work on finding solutions to the imminent flooding. The French village of Quiberville-sur-Mer in Normandy has opted for an unconventional approach: letting the sea in instead of building walls to keep it out.
Houses perched on chalk cliffs facing the English Channel overlook waves crashing loudly on a pebble beach. Fields, crisscrossed by the River Saâne, extend as far as the eye can see in this commune in France’s northern Normandy region. The small village of Quiberville, with a summer population of 2,400 and barely 550 in winter, bustles with life on a late October morning. Local residents and tourists are out on the beach, enjoying a beautiful autumn day. With the sunshine, tourists and rolling fields, it’s easy to forget the sword of Damocles hanging over this small community: the rising sea.
If global warming continues on its current trajectory, sea levels could rise by as much as one metre by 2100, according to the latest predictions from UN climate experts. This would profoundly transform the French coastline – and Quiberville is on the front line.
“The town is already at risk, both of flooding from the sea and flooding from the Saâne on the land side. We also have the problem of cliff erosion,” said Stéphane Costa, a University of Caen professor who has been studying the eroding coastline in Normandy for decades, in an interview with FRANCE 24.
“This will be further exacerbated by global warming. Not only will the rise in sea level increase the risk of flooding, but it will also prevent the river from draining. At the same time, more waves will hit the bottom of the cliffs and accelerate…
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Source : france24
