High Tide At Spurn Point. Spurn Head Coastal Defences, a facinating place, where all allong the sand there are hundreds of groynes trying to stop coastal erosion taking place and buildings that look like they have been eaten by the sea. The most memorable part though was the noise, as the North sea crashed all over this stuff it gave off a crackling noise that i have never heard before. MARK BOYLE / dphotographer.co.uk

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 4 (Bernama) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has warned that rising sea levels could put coastal cities from Kolkata to Miami at “serious” risk in the years to come. In his message on the occasion of ‘World Habitat Day’, Ban said rising sea levels are an urgent concern given that 60 million people today live within one metre of sea level. This number will jump to 130 million by end of the century, Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted him as saying on Tuesday. “Major coastal cities – such as Cairo, New York, Karachi, Calcutta, Belem, New Orleans, Shanghai, Tokyo, Lagos, Miami and Amsterdam – could face serious threats from storm surges and are at risk of being inundated by rising waters. “The nexus between urbanisation and climate change is real and potentially deadly,” he said, adding urging member states to take timely action against mounting threats posed by climate change. On another note, Ban said that experts predicts that by 2050, global population would have increased by 50 per cent from what it was in 1999. […]

Coastal Cities Face Serious Threat From Rising Sea Levels, Warns UN Sec Gen via The Oil Drum