One in 10 at risk from rising seas, storms: study

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

OSLO (Reuters) - One in 10 people in the world, mostly in Asia, live in coastal areas at risk from rising seas and more powerful storms that may be caused by global warming, an international study showed on Wednesday.

The researchers urged governments to make billion-dollar policy shifts to encourage more settlements inland rather than in coastal regions from China to Florida that may suffer ever more storm surges and erosion.

A zone less than 10 meters (33 ft) above sea level "contains some 2 percent of the world's land and 10 percent of its population," according to the study to be published in the April edition of the journal Environment and Urbanization.

"Settlements in coastal lowlands are especially vulnerable to risks resulting from climate change, yet these lowlands are densely settled and growing rapidly," the researchers in the United States and Britain said in the article.

Based on new computer population models and NASA satellite data, it estimated that 634 million people lived in the coastal zone in 2000, including 360 million in towns and cities.

More than 75 percent were in Asia. Globalization is promoting a shift toward coasts in countries including China and India by fostering a world trade largely dependent on shipping.

RISING SEAS

U.N. climate experts projected last month that sea levels could gain by 18 to 59 cms (7.1 to 23.2 inches) by 2100, and keep rising for centuries. They also forecast shifts including more powerful storms, droughts and heatwaves because of emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly from burning fossil fuels.