Bangladesh’s seawalls may cause more damage than they prevent
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.028043
New Scientist : Bangladesh is a low-lying country that is at risk of rising tides due to global warming. In the last 50 years, the country has built 4000 km of seawalls and is currently planning to upgrade 600 km of seawalls in one delta region. However, John Pethick and Julian Orford of Queen’s University Belfast in the UK believe that the current seawalls are causing the country’s coastal regions to disappear faster than they should be. They argue that because the walls force tides through small channels, the tides are higher when they reach the coast. That tidal amplification combines with the subsidence of the delta regions to create deeper and more widespread flooding. However, local planners argue that the data are taken from only three tidal gauges and so don’t present an accurate picture of the region as a whole.
