Could it be salvation for Norfolk – or is it cloud cuckoo land?

A massive wall built out at sea and linking Great Yarmouth to Happisburgh, enclosing dozens of square miles of water and turning it into a freshwater haven for wildlife and tourism, could be the answer to some of the climate change challenges facing Norfolk and the northern Broads.

The idea has been put forward by Mike Evans, who has held a series of high-profile posts in the boating world, such as chairman of the Royal Yachting Association, and is the current president of the Norfolk and Suffolk Boating Association and a representative of private boat owners at the Broads Authority. (more…)

A villager has been honoured for her role in a David and Goliath style battle against the might of a government quango.

Fifty nine year old Susan Lowes is standing tall after she played a pivotal part in bringing down a controversial policy to surrender her home and 25sq miles of the Norfolk Broads to the sea.

The former bank worker was at the forefront of a grassroots uprising against now ditched plans by Natural England to allow her village of Potter Heigham and five others to be submerged by the North Sea. (more…)

The Norfolk Broads face severe damage from climate change unless more is done to help habitats recover, a report by Natural England said.

The study into the future of the Broads recommends new wetlands are created and species given more support before sea levels rise further.

The report authors found climate change will lead to the Broads becoming salty.

They said coastal defences will come under more pressure, while wetlands face harm from floods and drought. (more…)

From the Natural England website:

In the Norfolk Broads report, Natural England confirms its support for the current policy to maintain the current line of defence on the Eccles-Winterton stretch of coast, for at least 50 years, re-iterating that it is an adviser on flood risk policy and not the final decision-maker.

Summary report: Responding to the impacts of climate change on the natural environment: The Broads – a summary

A year ago the EDP revealed conservation bosses were considering a radical plan to surrender a large area of the Broads to the sea, prompting a public outcry and a vociferous campaign. Now Natural England has dropped the controversial proposals from its final report. JON WELCH examines the issues.

At least six villages wiped off the map, hundreds of people turned out of their homes, and thousands of acres of farmland and some of Norfolk’s top wildlife sites lost to the sea.

This devastating scenario came not from the pages of a lurid novel, but a report by the government’s own conservation advisers, Natural England. (more…)

Devastating proposals to surrender 25 square miles of the Broads to the North Sea have been officially dropped by government conservation advisers.

Natural England has bowed to public opinion over the proposals, which would have resulted in the flooding of at least six villages, and the destruction of hundreds of homes, thousands of acres of farmland and some of Norfolk’s top wildlife sites. (more…)

Large areas of the Norfolk Broads are likely to disappear by 2100, according to scientists.

The stark warning will be issued at an international climate change conference this week when experts will outline their latest findings on rising sea levels and global warming.

Over the three-day event in Copenhagen, which starts tomorrow , scientists will reveal how they have now realised that sea levels pose a far bigger eco threat than previously though and will sound an alarm over new floodings – enough to swamp the Norfolk Broads. (more…)

Scientists will warn this week that rising sea levels, triggered by global warming, pose a far greater danger to the planet than previously estimated. There is now a major risk that many coastal areas around the world will be inundated by the end of the century because Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are melting faster than previously estimated.

Low-lying areas including Bangladesh, Florida, the Maldives and the Netherlands face catastrophic flooding, while, in Britain, large areas of the Norfolk Broads and the Thames estuary are likely to disappear by 2100. In addition, cities including London, Hull and Portsmouth will need new flood defences. (more…)

More than 360,000 cubic metres of sand will be added to a beach on the Norfolk Coast as part of an £8.8m project to prevent the Broads from flooding.

Work to limit the flood risk to the Broads from the coast between Happisburgh and Winterton is well under way and recharging the beach with sand begins on Monday .

Three out of nine new rock groynes have been finished with rocks brought in by sea from Norway on a 20,000 tonne barge. They replace existing timber and steel groynes between Horsey and Winterton Ness Gap.

Other parts of the scheme involve recharging the beach with 360,000m3 of sand between Sea Palling and Poplar Farm Gap, reconstruction of a 275m long section of rock revetment (rocks placed to protect the seawall from wave action) at Eccles and 25,000m3 of beach recycling (the relocation of a small amount of sand from behind a reef to an area where the beach is low, also at Eccles). (more…)

Britain as an island nation is particularly susceptible to coastal erosion. Several communities in one part of Britain, along the north coast of Norfolk, have already seen their homes and businesses washed into the sea.

So can anything be done to combat the action of oceans? And what will the coastlines of world look like in 2050? For One Planet, Mark Whittaker reports.

Listen to the programme on the BBC World Service website