Greece in the ‘red zone’ of coastal erosion, warns expert

Greece has lost some 250 square kilometers of its beaches in the past 30 years and will see even more of its coastline being swallowed up as climate change continues to push up the sea level, Costas Synolakis, a preeminent authority on the impact of natural hazards, has warned, stressing the need for immediate action.

"By 2050 even, when the sea level is estimated to rise an additional 20 to 30 centimeters, the coastline at some beaches will recede by as much as 30 meters, depending on the incline of the land," Synolakis, who is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the Technical University of Crete and the University of Southern California, told state broadcaster ERT on Monday, citing European Union data. 

Synolakis, who also holds the Chair of Earth Sciences at the Academy of Athens, went on to warn of the enormous financial cost of large swathes of...