Thousands of holidaymakers heading to British beaches this summer will be cheered by a major government report into the state of the UK’s seas. Coastal waters are getting cleaner, fish stocks are improving and species diversity in estuaries is increasing, according to the most authoritative examination ever carried out of UK seas.

But while the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs study boasts of “significant improvements” since the last such report in 2005, it also paints a picture of an environment being rapidly affected by a warming world. Seas around the British Isles are higher, warmer and more acid, it says, and coastal litter levels are at a record high. (more…)

Adapting to climate change needs to become as much of a priority as cutting emissions, MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee argue in a report out today.  Climate projections show that Britain can expect wetter winters, drier summers and a higher likelihood of flash-floods, heat waves and droughts.  The report concludes that Government must do more to raise awareness of the need to prepare for a changing climate.

Tim Yeo, Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee said:

“For a long time the climate change debate has focused on reducing carbon emissions, but adapting to the inevitable impacts of rising global temperatures is equally critical.

“Even if all the world’s power stations were switched off tomorrow past emissions mean that some climate change will still take place and we will face more floods, droughts and heat waves.

“We must act now to protect people, property and prosperity and safeguard the natural environment. Delay will only impose greater costs on future generations.

“The Government must be imaginative and establish new and sustainable sources of funding and support for adaptation.” (more…)

En Grande-Bretagne, le réchauffement climatique se fait déjà sentir, notamment dans le Norfolk, région la plus exposée face à la mer, dans le nord-est de l’Angleterre.

Watch the video on TF1

For Malcolm Kerby climate change is no distant threat to the Third World. He lives where it is already ruining lives… in Britain.

His home is in the small village of Happisburgh on the North Norfolk coast where the shore is retreating, battered by increasingly ferocious rising seas.

“This is the front line of climate change in Britain,” he says. “We can’t deny it. It’s happening. We see it with our own eyes.” (more…)

Will the Kent coast always look like it does now? Unlikely. By 2100 is estimated that sea level changes wrought by climate change will have altered the map and we could find ourselves with a county that looks very different to the one we know and love today

Whether an act of humility or egotistical mania, King Canute’s tidal antics in the 11th century confirmed that the sea does what it wants. We’ve come a long way since, developing more sophisticated ways of thwarting the sea other than a pair of kingly ankles.

Around the county, coastal communities enjoy protection via a network of flood defences. They ensure that, even when the sea is at its bolshiest, those at risk from flooding (10 per cent of Kent’s population), can sleep safe in the knowledge that they won’t end up sharing more in common with Atlantis than Ashford. (more…)

More than 20,000 homes in North Somerset are at significant risk of flooding, according to a new report by the Environment Agency.

The report reveals that North Somerset is the second place at most risk of flooding in the whole of the South West with 20, 415 properties at risk.

The figures reveal one in three properties in the area could go under water as climate change increases coastal erosion and a rise in river levels.

A map published by the agency highlights areas such as Weston Bay, Uphill, Sand Bay, Brean Down and Kewstoke at risk of flooding from rivers or the sea without defences. (more…)

I have an idea how the Government could start on the huge spending cuts that will be required after the next election: replace the environment department with a man carrying a sandwich board bearing the message “Prepare to meet thy doom”. He would do much the same job as Hilary Benn but at a fraction of the cost. Yesterday the UK Climate Impact Programme, a quango set up by his own department, published a report predicting the effects of global warming over the next century.

It warned, among other things, of increasing tempest and flood, speeding up coastal erosion. Mr Benn’s response? We’ll have to redouble our efforts to cut carbon emissions – but there won’t be a penny of extra cash for flood and sea defence. Moreover, there was not a hint of any change of policy over constructing thousands of new homes most at risk of river and coastal flooding, in places such as the Thames Gateway. (more…)

The threat to Britain posed by floods, heat waves and coastal erosion is far more serious than previously thought, according to a group of experts appointed by the Government.

Their report, to be published today, is expected to be the bleakest official assessment yet of the impact of climate change in Britain over the rest of this century.

It will say that the estimated number of homes at risk of flooding is likely to double to about 800,000 within 25 years because of rising sea levels. Average summer temperatures in the South of England will rise by 2C by the 2040s and up to 6.4C by 2080, it will warn, increasing the risk of skin cancers and insect-borne diseases. (more…)

Roads are rarely called beautiful yet few would argue with that word for the A379 at Slapton Sands in Devon. It runs for miles along an elevated shingle bank with the English Channel on one side and a vast, tranquil freshwater lake on the other.

But the road is threatened by a combination of spring tides and easterly winds, which may mean the road will be swept away in the near future – and with it would go a lifeline for local residents and businesses.

“It would turn us into a dead end. No one would come here because it would be too isolated. We’d close down, everyone would close down,” warns Sally Pound, who runs the general store and Post Office at Torcross, the community closest to the road.

The road was breached by a storm in 2001. It closed for three months until a £1.2m repair realigned the tarmac 20 yards inland. If it is breached again it may be ”given to the sea” in line with official conservation policy but against the wishes of local people.

What was an eight-mile scenic run between Dartmouth and Kingsbridge will then become a 21-mile inland diversion along narrow lanes, many carrying buses and coaches in summer. Pretty villages such as Torcross and Strete will become more isolated and homes may fall in value as a consequence.

Read the full story by Graham Norwood on the Telegraph website

A conference is being held at the John Innes Centre, Norwich on 16th May 2009 discussing climate change in East Anglia.

Organised jointly by WEA (Workers’ Educational Association) and the University of East Anglia (UEA), speakers will include:

• Prof. Tim O’Riordan (UEA) discussing “Changing climate; changing coast?”
• Prof. A Davey (UEA) on “Managed coastal realignment; can we seize the conservation opportunities?”
• Steve Hayman (Environment Agency)  on “What’s the future for our coast?”
• Malcolm Kerby (Happisburgh CCAG) on “People, property and coast Management”
• Panel discussion chaired by Dr. Ian Gibson MP

To book a place, fill in and return the booking form – there is no charge for attendance; lunch can be provided for £10. People with lunch bookings get preferential entry if the event is booked out.