Displacement of Human Populations due to Erosion, Permafrost Melts and Sea Level Rise

Changing climate, rising sea level, loss of ecosystem services, exposure to pathogens or toxic pollutants, lack of potable water, as well as the costs of mitigation strategies may force human populations to relocate. The two most famous examples are Vanuatu, which expects its entire island nation population to become sea-level rise refugees, and Shishmaref and Kivalina, two villages in northwest coastal Alaska, which are in the process of being dismantled and moved at a cost to U.S. taxpayers of more than $100 million – over $100,000 per resident – as the result of coastal erosion and melting permafrost. And there are 20 other Alaska villages that are candidates (with similar costs) for relocation because of severe erosion¹¹.

Kiribati, the Marshalls, and Tuvalu are likewise involved in diplomatic discussions to seek settlements for refugees once their islands are "subsumed by rising sea levels linked to fossil-fuel-driven climate change."¹²

Human activities and alterations have rendered coastal resources more vulnerable to climate change-induced processes, such as accelerated sea-level rise, alterations of rainfall patterns and storm frequency or intensity, and increased siltation. Climate change and a rise in sea level or changes in storms or storm surges could result in the increased erosion of shores and associated habitat, increased salinity of estuaries and freshwater aquifers, altered tidal ranges in rivers and bays, changes in sediment and nutrient transport, a change in the pattern of chemical and microbiological contamination in coastal areas, and increased coastal flooding¹³. Rapid sea level rise is already currently underway in some parts of the United States, China, and Argentina, increasing flood risk in coastal areas¹⁴.

¹¹Rosen, Yereth “Warming climate disrupts Alaska Natives' lives” Reuters April 16, 2004.

¹²Motavalli, Jim (ed.) Feeling the Heat page 137

¹³NOAA 1998 Year of the Ocean “Impacts Of Global Climate Change” Washington, DC
available at: http://www.yoto98.noaa.gov/yoto/meeting/climate_316.html

¹⁴Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2001. Third Assessment Report.