An international team of coastal scientists has dismissed suggestions that half the world’s beaches could become extinct over the course of the 21st century.
An international team of coastal scientists has dismissed suggestions that half the world’s beaches could become extinct over the course of the 21st century.
The claim was made by European researchers in a paper published in Nature Climate Change in March 2020 (Sandy coastlines under threat of erosion by Vousdoukas et al).
However, academics from the UK, France, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the USA have re-examined the data and methodology that underpinned the original study and say they strongly disagree with its conclusion.
They have now published a rebuttal to the article in the same journal, and concluded that with the global data and numerical methods available today it is impossible to make such global and wide-reaching predictions.
Read more at: University of Plymouth
Slapton Sands in Devon (UK), with the village of Torcross in the foreground, is an example of where the beach has space to move and therefore survive (Photo Credit: University of Plymouth)
