“You can’t stop the sea”

Published on Al Jazeera

With one of the fastest eroding coastlines in Europe, the UK is struggling to protect coastal communities from sea level risings. About 9,000 properties in England alone are currently exposed to risk from the coastal recession, says the latest report by the Committee on Climate Change.

The government’s policy is changing from investing in defences towards relocation and adaptation. However, this means many people will lose their homes, might not receive compensation and will face displacement.

They are set to become the country’s first ‘climate refugees’. However, many within these coastal communities challenge such simplistic and sensationalis- tic portrayal.

They call for national recognition of the issue and adequate action to tackle it. In the meanwhile, they are taking the matter into their own hands and organising local self-support groups to make up for the government’s shortcomings.