Climate Change and the European Water Dimension - Agri ...

with the lower limit range indicated by the IPCC. In the Ebro in particular, the study
foresees increased coastal erosion, reshaping of coastline, loss and flooding of
wetlands, and reduced fisheries yield.
Sea-level rise and possible changes in the frequency and/or intensity of extreme
events, such as temperature and precipitation extremes, cyclones, and storm surges,
represent consequences of climate change that are of most concern to coastal
zones. Except for sea-level rise itself, there currently is little understanding of the
possible interaction of different aspects of climate change in the coastal zone. Other
possible changes in climate could be costly. In The Netherlands, the costs of
protection against an adverse 10% change in the direction and intensity of storms
may be worse than the costs of a 60-cm rise in sea level (Peerbolte et al., 1991;
IPCC 2001).
Conclusions
Although the physical impact of climate change in all of its dimensions can be better
predicted with the constant improvement of the accuracy of models, data obtained on
the Mediterranean spatial scale and particularly for the Ebro catchment have still a
high uncertainty to properly quantify the future impacts. This is also enhanced if
considered in conjunction with other threats posed by human activity (UNEP/EEA,
2000). We conclude that further multi-disciplinary research is still needed to assess
the major environmental problems that may arise in the Ebro watershed from
increased temperatures, changing precipitation patterns (increasing in turn the
frequency of floods and drought events, and acceleration of erosion and
desertification), sea level rise, and other threats that originate from climate change,
and to distinguish natural fluctuations from the effects of anthropogenic activities.
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