While 320 coastal wetlands in the Mediterranean basin would be affected, the figure could jump to 495 in the years to come according to the most pessimistic scenarios.
A scientific study that alerts. More than a third of wetlands in the Mediterranean basin are threatened by the risk of marine flooding caused by global warming, which risks destroying valuable habitat for coastal birds.
320 coastal wetlands affected
Coastal wetlands are among the areas most threatened by global warming: due to rising sea levels, more than half of them worldwide could disappear underwater by 2100, previous studies have already shown. studies.
This new study, published Thursday May 16 in the journal Conservation Biology, modeled the future risks of submersion according to the different scenarios of the IPCC (the group of climate experts mandated by the UN) on 938 coastal sites around the Mediterranean.
It reveals that 34.4% of these sites, or 320 coastal wetlands, are threatened with disappearance by 2100 from rising sea levels, even in the most optimistic climate scenarios (with a warming of +1 .8 degree). In pessimistic scenarios (up to +4.4 degrees), this figure could rise to 495, or more than half.
“Underestimated” figures?
The Camargue regional natural park, the largest French wetland, « could, for example, suffer the submergence of a surface area of land equivalent to four times the surface area of Paris », indicates a press release from the National Museum of Natural History, which participated under study with the Tour du Valat Research Institute for the Conservation of Mediterranean Wetlands.
Among these threatened areas, between 54.1% and 60.7% are sites of international importance for waterbirds, such as pink flamingos, Pied avocets or gadwall ducks, particularly during the wintering period. or nesting. As these birds do not have alternative habitat, these threats could “negatively affect” their numbers and the ecosystems associated with them.
“These figures are undoubtedly underestimated,” note the authors of the study, emphasizing that many coastal areas, particularly in Spain, have not been included and that other threats (coastal erosion, salinization, overtourism, etc.) ) were not taken into account.
For all these reasons, they recommend « the urgent implementation of adaptation measures » in these sites, such as the construction of dikes but above all, more effective in the long term, the implementation of solutions based on nature (fixing of dunes with vegetation) or even an extension of protected areas to combat uncontrolled urbanization in particular.
