Natural reaction

The prospect of rising seas has so far not captured much attention in these islands. With the exception of the Water Directorate at the Malta Resources Authority (MRA) and a handful of beach building entrepreneurs no one seems very interested in the effects of global warming on our beaches - or on our water supply.

Being an island we really should be paying more attention to the effects of climate change on islands around the world. While we were caught up in the last few days of Christmas shopping, two islands in the Ganges Delta disappeared.

The last time anyone looked they were visible on satellite images - then they were gone. An area 15 times the size of Malta, and former forest home to the Bengali tiger, has been flooded by rising seas. India has reported the loss of the islands, and evacuation of their 10,000 inhabitants, to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

UNFCC advice for adapting worldwide to the effects of climate change on sea levels (which are not expected to be uniform everywhere) include recommendations to protect exposed coasts. These include construction of sea walls in anticipation of rising seas and more invasive beach nourishment where coastal erosion has already begun.

Whoever is benefiting from the spreading of imported quarry grit on our beaches (commonly known as beach nourishment or replenishment) may find some momentary comfort in the news that polar ice is melting twice as fast as previously thought.

The report* on technologies for adaptation to rising sea levels makes a clear distinction between "anticipatory" action where this is needed (sea walls) and "reactive" technologies (beach nourishment) which are not to be carried out until a steady rise in sea level has already been observed.

Before a flood of beach nourishment projects are let loose in unsuitable locations, without long term studies on environmental impacts, MEPA should take full responsibility and apply some brakes.

In spite of this there has already been a wave of "coastal defence" proposals for further coastline areas in Malta and Gozo, ostensibly to beat the rising seas by dumping more quarry grit on our beaches (e.g. Balluta, Xlendi). MEPA should be on the alert not to be fooled by projects which anticipate saving the environment. Infilling of picturesque water bodies with quarry grit change the entire character of a bay, not to mention its biodiversity.

This should only be considered as a last-ditch measure in reaction to visible incursions of sea water inland.

If within the next decade the world manages to reverse climate change, then we may not have to resort to irreversibly altering our coastline in this way.

Worst case write-off

The latest news is that we still have about 100 years left before the sea level rises a predicted maximum of 1.4 metres as a result of global warming. As an island, the effect we should really be worrying about is incursion of salt water into the aquifer. Rising seas could penetrate our ground water supply. Over-extraction of borehole water, compounded with the rising of sea level, could prove disastrous in less time than we realise.

The MRA has started to show concern about the possibility of this happening at some future date. This is reflected in the authority's application to the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission for aid to conduct a study on the effects of climate change on our endangered natural water resource, the mean sea level aquifer.

The combined effects of predicted changes, namely less rain in the Mediterranean, an increase in the average temperature and rising seas, are all expected to impact on the future availability of this important water resource.

An EU-funded study could address the impact of these phenomena on the status of groundwater and their economic effect, with a focus on specific sectors such as agriculture. Seawater intrusion into coastal aquifers with a possible writing off of part of the network of water galleries, as MRA predicts in the worst case, would be certain to leave a disturbing economic impact.

razammit@hotmail.com

http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/publications/tech_for_adaptation_06.pdf