Context

Scientists have proposed to protect 25 million people and important economic regions of 15 Northern European countries from rising seas. It is called Northern European Enclosure Dam (NEED) enclosing all of the North Sea.

About

• The scientists have proposed the construction of two dams of a combined length of 637 km
  • The first between northern Scotland and western Norway. It would be 476 km and with an average depth of 121 m and a maximum depth of 321 m.
  • The second between France and southwestern England, of length 161 km, and an average depth of 85 m and a maximum depth of 102 m.
    
    
    
    
• According to scientists, separating the North and Baltic Seas from the Atlantic Ocean is considered to be the “most viable option” to protect Northern Europe against unstoppable sea-level rise (SLR).
• They have also identified other regions in the world where such mega-enclosures could potentially be considered, including the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Irish Sea, and the Red Sea.

The rationale behind

• The concept of constructing NEED showcases the extent of protection efforts that are required if mitigation efforts fail to limit sea-level rise.
• While NEED may appear to be “overwhelming” and “unrealistic”, it could be “potentially favourable” financially and in scale when compared with alternative solutions to fight SLR, the research argues.
• The researchers classify the solutions to SLR into three categories of taking no action, protection, and managed retreat — and submit that NEED is in the second category.
• While managed retreat, which includes options such as managed migrations, may be less expensive than protection (NEED), it involves intangible costs such as national and international political instability, psychological difficulties, and loss of culture and heritage for migrants.
• NEED, the paper says, will have the least direct impact on people’s daily lives, can be built at a “reasonable cost”, and has the largest potential to be implemented with the required urgency to be effective.

Viability of NEED

• The researchers have estimated the total costs associated with NEED at between €250 billion and €550 billion.
• They referred to the costs of building the 33.9-km Saemangeum Seawall in South Korea and the Maasvlakte 2 extension of the Rotterdam harbour in the Netherlands as examples,
• If construction is spread over a 20-year period, this will work out to an annual expense of around 0.07%-0.16% of the GDP of the 15 Northern European countries that will be involved.
• Also, the construction will “heavily impact” marine and terrestrial ecosystems inside and outside the enclosure, will have social and cultural implications, and affect tourism and fisheries.