Biodiversité

Créée par la Commission européenne, la plateforme côtière de Copernicus sert de point d'accès unique aux connaissances et aux applications de Copernicus sur le climat, les océans, les terres et les urgences, l'accent étant mis sur les régions côtières de l'Europe.

Sand dunes are an important habitat for rare plants and wildlife. They also protect against erosion, flooding and storm damage.

The scale of soil degradation in the EU is significant. Water and wind erosion affect approximately 22% of European land. 45% of the mineral soils in Europe have low or very low organic carbon content. Soil contamination affects up to three million sites and an estimated 32-36% of European subsoils are classified as having high or very high susceptibility to compaction. Due to accelerating drivers behind degradation such as increasing urbanisation, land abandonment, and intensification of agricultural production, soil degradation processes continue to undermine soil functions.

L’adaptation des rivages au changement climatique est un des plus grands défis de notre siècle, les côtes étant exposées à la plupart des impacts qui y sont attachés: recul du trait de côte lié à l’élévation du niveau de la mer, érosion accélérée de certains secteurs, augmentation de la fréquence et de l’intensité des tempêtes, inondations côtières, intrusion d’eau salée rendant les rivières et aquifères saumâtres, dégradation des écosystèmes marins et côtiers.

Global models of tide, storm surge, and wave setup are used to obtain projections of episodic coastal flooding over the coming century. The models are extensively validated against tide gauge data and the impact of uncertainties and assumptions on projections estimated in detail. Global “hotspots” where there is projected to be a significant change in episodic flooding by the end of the century are identified and found to be mostly concentrated in north western Europe and Asia. Results show that for the case of, no coastal protection or adaptation, and a mean RCP8.5 scenario, there will be an increase of 48% of the world’s land area, 52% of the global population and 46% of global assets at risk of flooding by 2100. A total of 68% of the global coastal area flooded will be caused by tide and storm events with 32% due to projected regional sea level rise.