Comparative merits of adaptation policies of sea level rise and their potential impacts on coastal settlements in developing countries

Boateng, Isaac and Malcolm Bray

Climate change and global warming has been one of the most discussed and debated topics in Scientific Journals over the last two decades. There are considerable media and public pressures on governments, policy makers and international organisations such as European Union and United Nations to take measures to address global warming and its potential deleterious effects. The biggest danger, many experts warn, is that global warming will cause sea levels to rise increasingly rapidly. The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Assessment Report, published in 2001, projected that the global average sea level would rise between 9 and 88cm between 1990 and 2100. However, in February 2007, The Working Group 1 (WGI) of the IPPC published a summary of the first of the four reports, which is due to be published later this year as IPPC Fourth Assessment Report. WG1 Report has the following projections: Probable temperature rise between 3oC and 4oC (range 1.1oC to 6.4oC); Sea level likely to rise by 18-59cm, Arctic summer sea ice disappears in second half of century; increase in heatwaves very likely and increase in tropical storm intensity likely, the latter being likely to cause especially severe problems for developing countries. This report concluded that there was a greater certainty (at least 90% certain) that human emissions of greenhouse gases rather than natural variations are warming the planet's surface and most likely to cause sea level to rise.

Event: XXX FIG Working Week and General Assembly : Strategic Integration of Surveying Services

Document type:Comparative merits of adaptation policies of sea level rise and their potential impacts on coastal settlements in developing countries (336 kB - pdf)