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Today, the world is warming and as a consequence mountain glaciers and polar land-based ice sheets are melting, discharging large volumes of meltwater into the planet’s oceans. This along with the thermal expansion of the sea water itself is causing seas to rise relative to coastlines across the globe.

Indeed, there are many parts of the world where the impacts of sea level rise are already being felt on a daily basis, as communities experience loss of livelihoods from
saltwater contaminated agricultural land and fresh water fishing grounds, changed ecologies reducing traditional hunting and abandoned flood prone infrastructure leading to lost employment opportunities. It is also resulting in frequent flooding of homes, permanent loss of utilities and blighted insurance zones. In these locations the shoreline is no longer perceived as fixed or stable…

Read the full report from the IMechE here: IMechE Rising Seas Report FINAL