Global warming and the coastal zone

Updated from a background paper for the Villach September 1987 Workshop on Developing Policies for Responding to Climatic Change, the article first deals with varying effects on fish production in the coastal zone. Assessment of the extent and direction of these effects will have to await regionalized predictions of temperature and related changes. Exploitation of non-living coastal resources which follows is not likely to be affected by a sea level rise, but recreation will suffer through land loss while aquaculture may be favored in some and disfavored in others of its modes. Estuaries and atolls can be severely impacted by a sea level rise both by loss of valuable, if not essential, land; they are also more vulnerable to salt water incursion, storm surges, and typhoons. Tropical river mouth, especially in Asia and arctic regions, are treated. Anticipatory actions toward mitigation of effects of a sea level rise are essentially those of coastal zone planning with the caveat that technical fixes eventually to be employed have to be adjusted to the highly site-specific characteristics of the land water interface.