The European Environment Agency (EEA) has released a series of detailed maps depicting the scale of forest fires, floods, and droughts Europe could face by the end of the century if no proactive measures are taken to address global warming. According to the EEA, if no flood control measures are taken, sea levels could rise by an average of one meter by the end of the century, putting 90% of the city of Hull, UK, underwater. Several British cities could be flooded, covering more than 40% of their urban areas. Across the North Sea, Dutch cities such as The Hague, Rotterdam, and Leiden could face severe flooding from a one-meter sea level rise if temperatures rise by 4 to 6°C above pre-industrial levels. The modeling does not account for flood control measures implemented by the Netherlands, but many other countries have yet to take similar action. Dutch cities such as The Hague, Rotterdam, and Leiden could face even more severe flooding in the future. Photo credit: Daryl DeHart (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). Meanwhile, large areas of Spain, Portugal, and France could face desertification, and in the worst-case scenario, droughts in the most severe areas could increase by 2.5 times. Hot summers increase the risk of forest fires. In 2018, forest fires in Sweden reached record levels. If temperatures rise by more than 4°C, the risk of fires will increase significantly in France, southern Germany, the Balkans, and the Arctic Circle. The fire risk will remain highest in southern European countries, already prone to fires. Further north, winters will become increasingly wetter. If warming is not limited to 2°C, by the end of the century, heavy rainstorms in autumn and winter will increase significantly across Central and Eastern Europe, from Bratislava in Slovakia in the west to Yaroslavl in Russia in the east. In some areas, the frequency of heavy rainstorms could increase by as much as 35%. This climate data is not the latest, but it is the first time that an EU institution has published climate data in the form of maps on a single website. Users can zoom in on the map to see that by 2071, one-third of the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham could be flooded. A map of flood-prone areas along the UK and French coasts is also available. Photo credit: European Environment Agency The Copenhagen-based EEA hopes the maps will influence decision-makers in governments and EU institutions, who don't usually read the EEA's lengthy climate emergency reports. "The situation is urgent and we need to act now," said Blaž Kurnik, an EEA expert on climate change impacts and adaptation. He said that even if the world succeeds in limiting global temperature rise, the existing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will continue to play a role. "Extreme weather events and sea level rise, in particular, will continue to worsen over the next decades to a century because past emissions and current greenhouse gas concentrations are still driving sea level rise." The EEA wants governments to focus on responding to inevitable global warming. "Adaptation to climate change will be crucial in the coming decades. Even if we can limit warming to 2°C, adaptation will still be essential for decades to come." Source: The Guardian (February 10, 2020), Fires and floods: maps of Europe predict scale of climate catastrophe
