In 2023 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, comprising the world\u2019s top scientists, warned levels could rise by 20-29cm by 2050, and by 50cm to a metre by the end of the century. <\/p>\n
But, it says, since then, further studies have warned of much more dramatic increases, particularly if tipping points are reached such as the collapse of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets. <\/p>\n
![\"Coastal](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/WOONJCLA5IBEYXBIZIR5EL6I3M.jpg\")
Coastal flooding in New Jersey in September. Photograph: Dave Sanders\/The New York Times <\/p>\n
Either way, the backgrounder concludes, almost 770 million coastal dwellers \u2013 a tenth of the world\u2019s population \u2013 are directly at risk. <\/p>\n
These are a diverse group of people \u2013 beachside billionaires in California, small farmers in Co Wexford, fishing communities in Bangladesh, bankers in Manhattan, rice-growers in Vietnam and the citizens of some of the smallest, low-lying Pacific islands. <\/p>\n
Tuvaluans are among them, fighting a fierce battle against the encroaching seas in a tiny archipelago where the highest point rises no more than 4.6m. <\/p>\n
[\u00a0Ireland and Tuvalu to cohost international climate conference next JulyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n The four-page declaration agreed by world leaders last month commits in quite a vague way to doing whatever is possible \u201cto safeguard long-term habitability, livelihoods and critical infrastructure\u201d in such places. <\/p>\n \u201cWe emphasise the need for strengthened partnerships and co-operation to mobilise and provide financial, technical and policy support to address sea level rise for developing countries, particularly Sids (small island developing states) and LDCs (least developed countries),\u201d it says. <\/p>\n \u201cWe call for scaled-up finance to localise action on sea-level rise.\u201d <\/p>\n That is a call they are making to themselves so it would be of greater significance if they actually pledged to scale up finance. <\/p>\n The declaration gets a bit more specific when addressing the issue of \u201cnature-based solutions and ecosystem-based approaches\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cRestoration and protection of mangroves, coral reefs, coastal wetlands, kelp forests and seagrass meadows can strengthen resilience while providing ecosystem services and co-benefits,\u201d it says. <\/p>\n It also makes some sensible points about planning and development in coastal areas. <\/p>\n There is something for Ireland to learn from this, the tendency of developers being to trumpet the virtues of coastal living as all sea views and no storms while too often public representatives make zoning decisions based on what has not happened to date rather that what is projected to occur. <\/p>\n \u201cWe recognise the need to integrate sea-level-rise projections into the planning, design, implementation and maintenance of critical coastal infrastructure to ensure their resilience,\u201d the declaration states. <\/p>\n It includes as critical coastal infrastructure, \u201cports, energy, transport, water systems, healthcare facilities, telecommunications, digital infrastructure, and coastal protection measures including land reclamation and elevation\u201d. <\/p>\n [\u00a0Ireland\u2019s coastline \u2013 erosion in Wexford: \u2018There\u2019s nobody protecting my land for me\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n But not everything that will be stolen by the sea is visible or tangible. <\/p>\n For the past two years, negotiators grappled with the existential question of whether a country can exist as a legal entity if it doesn\u2019t have physical form and its people have had to leave.<\/p>\n They concluded, and the declaration backs this, that it can and, in most cases, should. <\/p>\n \u201cOnce a State is established, the disappearance of one of its constituent elements would not necessarily entail the loss of its statehood,\u201d it says. <\/p>\n \u201cWe affirm the presumption in favour of continued statehood and in this respect we underscore the continuity of statehood in the face of sea level rise, as well as sovereignty, sovereign rights and responsibilities, and membership of the United Nations of such states, consistent with international law. <\/p>\n \u201cWe call for international support for states facing land territory changes due to sea level rise to continue to maintain institutional functions.\u201d <\/p>\n Marine territories will also be respected even if the country they once surrounded, or part of it, is gone. <\/p>\n \u201cOnce established in accordance with UNCLOS (the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas), we affirm that states can accordingly maintain their maritime zones in the face of physical changes resulting from sea level rise,\u201d the declaration says. <\/p>\n \u201cWe encourage the provision of relevant technical support to assist states to finalise their baselines under UNCLOS.\u201d <\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/WHAM4KWZMHZBBZJAPMAAK73JVY.jpg\")
A property that has been gradually eroding into the sea on Portrane beach, Co Dublin. Photograph: Colin Keegan\/Collins <\/p>\n