Coastal population keeps growing, despite risks
DB: This is Earth & Sky. Population is growing along the world’s coastlines, even as those areas are becoming more vulnerable and riskier places to live.
JB: Bob Chen manages NASA’s Socioeconomic Data and Application Center. He told us that new population maps show a trend towards growing population in low-lying coastal areas. Already, at least 10 percent of the world’s population lives at low elevations near a coast, according to a recent study.
DB: Low-lying coastal areas on Earth are more likely to experience the effects of rising sea level, such increased storm intensity and flooding from storm surges. These phenomena are expected to increase as Earth’s climate warms. But despite the hazards, population in coastal and low-lying regions continues to grow. Dr. Chen.
Bob Chen: People like to live along coasts. They tend to conglomerate in some of the traditionally rich, fertile areas.
JB: Looking ahead, says Chen, the question is …
Bob Chen: … whether coastlines are going to be livable places both because of the population increase and unmanaged growth, whether things like climate change and sea level rise are going to affect the viability of those areas over time.
DB: Our thanks today to NASA: explore, discover, understand. We’re Block and Byrd for Earth & Sky.
Additional Teacher Resources
NOAA: Population Trends Along the Coastal United States: 1980-2008
This site a report that presents an overview of coastal population trends from 1980 to 2003 and projected change in coastal population by 2008. This publication from the Special Projects Office of NOAAs National Ocean Service updates an earlier version of the report that was compiled over a decade ago as part of a Coastal Trends Report Series.
NOAA: Coastal Population Tool
Knowing how many people live, work, and vacation in your coastal community is imperative for planning and conducting emergency response and recovery activities. As populations increase in hazard-prone areas, the protection of people, property, and natural resources becomes more complex. Viewing population and storm data together will help minimize uncertainties and empower communities to become better prepared to deal with meteorological hazards.
