The impact of climate change may force buildings, coastal roads and car parks to be moved, scientists have warned.
A £6m research project in Cornwall is leveraging “cutting edge modelling” to predict how sand dunes will retreat and the impact it will have on the landscape.
As reported by the BBC, the project is gathering data at beaches over five years to predict how sand dunes will change under the “increasing strength of storm events” associated with climate change, as well as rising sea levels.
The project is using state-of-the-art computer modelling to reveal what Cornwall’s’ coast will look like in the next 100 years and its conclusions will be shown to planning teams making development plans on Corwnwall’s coast.
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Speaking to the BBC, professor Gerd Masselink, who is leading the project, called Making Space For Sand, said: “Dunes and beaches will retreat, and that might be 30, 40, 50 meters in the next, sort of, 50 years.
“If there’s anything in the way of that retreat, then it will have to be moved.
“Usually they are car parks, caravan parks, those sorts of things; and sometimes it’s houses.”
He added: “There might be some cases where the decision might be to protect… but the option is not to protect the whole coastline – there’s simply not enough money to do that.”
The UK’s first geothermal power plant in Cornwall, set to deliver renewable baseload power, will help meet local net zero targets.
