The Great Wall of China was built one C ago to defend against nomadic kinship group from the magnetic north . While this terror is now dead and bury , a new menace is lapping at China ’s frontier : move up ocean levels . Could another great rampart be the solution ?
clime change has grow the middling spherical ocean level by around 24 centimeters ( 9 inches ) since 1880 , as per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) , in the main due to fade glaciers and ice sheets , plus the thermic expansion of seawater as it warm up . China ’s coastline is one part of the universe that isextremely vulnerableto this shift and it ’s already feeling the sunburn ofrecord - breaking ocean level procession , enduring importantly high levels than the planetary average .
Its shoring are also home to millions upon millions of masses living within many of the nation ’s bustle economical hubs , include Shanghai , Shenzhen , Guangzhou , Dongguan , and Hong Kong .
Some Chinese urban center arealready preparingfor the violent storm by building improved drainage system , artificial wetlands , and clandestine storage . Scientists and engineershave suggestedthat a retractable roadblock organization could be built at the mouth of the Huangpu River to protect Shanghai , much like London ’s Thames Barrier . However , urban center official have reportedly been talk about this project for X with little progress .
One ambitious estimation is to construct a “ Great Seawall ” complex in defense of its coast . The Chinese government has built extensive sea walls since World War Two , but this system is probable to be unequal with the new shade ofclimate - driven sea level cost increase .
To update the old organization , a connection of bulwark – measuring 430 kilometers ( 267 miles ) in total – is presently under construction in China and some expert are betoken a massive seawall twist effort in the coming decades , the Economistreports .
How this might take shape is unsettled , although it ’s cleared many other coastal countries in Asia have already made major base architectural plan to remedy the issue . Since 2014 , Indonesia has been building theGiant Sea Wall Jakarta , a vast megaproject that involve constructing a giant seawall , water reservoirs , and regenerate inundate terra firma . With Jakarta continue toliterally cesspit , the 46 - km ( 29 - mile ) wall is set to guard the metropolis by 2030 .
Serious flood have run into the Indonesian capitalevery few year , with 10 of thousands of people often displaced . The threat of sea - level lift has become so grievous it ’s calculate that one - third of the city could be submerged by 2050 and the government activity is seriously looking torelocate the capitalto Kalimantan , a yet - to - be - built city on the island of Borneo .
Drowning metropolis are a job that many parts of the world will have to confront in the next few ten , not excluding Europe and North America . For example , coastal city like Miami , Houston , and New Orleans could be facing realproblems with sea - grade risemuch preferably than previously thought .
While China is not alone with its next flooding troubles , their late racetrack record designate they have a taste forcolossal engineering megaprojects – and often the means to deliver them .
