Il faudra bien s'adapter, à la mer

Nous avons eu de la pluie ce week-end. Beaucoup de pluie... Avec des rigoles qui se creusent le long des chemins forestiers et des bottes qui se laissent désirer. Heureusement c'est la Haute-Marne et la mer est loin.

La mer est plus proche en Angleterre où Alnmouth est en train de perdre son golf historique.
‘Awful’: climate crisis threatens to sink historic north-east golf club, 2024

There are fears that the historic golfing attraction will disappear as a result of coastal erosion, the undefended area closest to the sea near the fifth hole is especially at risk.
“I don’t think in another 100 years we will be playing golf here, I think it’s changed that much in the last 30 years,” said the club secretary Ian Simpson, who has been a member for more than a decade.

Du côte de Oakland, c'est l'océan qui se rapproche, tout comme l'année 2100.
John King on San Francisco, Oakland, and the Challenge of Affordable Housing, 2018

You’ve also got political consensus around the idea that development along the bay needs to be keyed to sea level projections for 2100. Of course this stirs up tensions, because a lot of the land in San Francisco where you can still build large amounts of housing is directly on the bay. So the official city line is these projects would have to be done with an eye toward sea level rise projections of sixty six inches by 2100. This isn’t a number plucked out of thin air: In 2012, the state had the National Research Council conduct a sea level rise study geared specifically to California, and that was the upper range forecast. That was a pretty aggressive estimate for the time. Now, whenever I write about these waterfront projects, people say, “How on earth can the city be doing this? It should be banning all development along the water.”

Heureusement que Rotterdam continue d'innover, avec son parc sur l'estuaire de Keilehaven.
‘Water comes from all four sides’: how Rotterdam’s tidal park protects the city, 2024

The award-winning tidal park, a stone’s throw from his shared offices, is one answer to that question. Once it was a typically grim industrial harbour. Now a beach of sand leads to the water, surrounded by shelves of varying heights and barriers made with tiles Rotterdammers have removed from their gardens, where indigenous plants will be seeded and left to do their thing.

Tandis que les voisins belges plantent des moules du côté de La Panne, dans la mer du Nord.
Belgique : un récif de moules pour lutter contre l'érosion côtière, 2023

Pour lutter contre l'érosion côtière, la Belgique teste une solution: la création au large d'un récif naturel de moules, susceptible de freiner les effets néfastes des puissants courants de la Mer du Nord tout en développant la biodiversité. Cette expérience scientifique, fruit des recherches des instituts flamands Ilvo et VLIZ associés à des firmes belges spécialisées dans les constructions offshore, a été menée pendant six ans à quelques kilomètres au large de la station de La Panne, près de la frontière française.