Scientists at the University of Southampton have found that rising sea levels and climate change continue to have an impact on coastal regions and hence appropriate measures need to be taken to better manage the effect of these climatic changes.
The research team, headed by Dr Sally Brown from the University of Southampton, examined Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment reports collated over a period of 24 years, and proposed an integrated approach to overcome this problem.
In this approach, other causes of change such as economic development, population growth and biodiversity changes were identified. The analysis of both natural and human environments will help to understand the global impact of climate change.
There are certain environments which will find it difficult to adapt to climate change, such as low-lying islands and coral reefs in the Maldives. They face an increased threat from climate changes and will find it hard to adapt to changes. However, adaptation has already taken place in Malé and Ibrahim Nasir International Airport, where land claim is a standard practice.
In the coming years, the impact of possible climate change such as flooding will be considerably reduced in these areas, which will be beneficial to both the economy and the local population.
This multi-disciplinary approach could prove valuable when IPCC assessment reports are drafted in the future. This study was published in Nature Climate Change.