Original version

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

CrowdScience

Documentaries

Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Answering your questions about life, Earth and the universe

We take your questions about life, Earth and the universe to researchers hunting for answers at the frontiers of knowledge.

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

CrowdScience: Where do we go when the seas rise?

Discussion & Talk

Greenland houses_crop.jpg

11/11/2022 GMT

Where do we go when the seas rise?

BBC World Service - CrowdScience, Where do we go when the seas rise?

We see Greenland’s ice is melting - so where should we go to live in the future?

One listener wants to know where we should retreat to when sea levels rise. So we did a spot of global, climate-resilient house-hunting to find out.

After learning how long it will take the Earth's ice sheets to melt in the previous episode, we continue our journey in Greenland. As world leaders gather in Egypt for the annual UN climate conference, listener Johan isn't too optimistic about governments' ability to curb greenhouse gas emissions and get a handle on climate change. So from his coastal perch in Denmark, he has asked where we should live when the poles have melted away and coastlines creep inland.

Along with the help of BBC correspondents around the world, Marnie Chesterton scours the
globe for the best option for listener Johan's new home.

BBC Mundo reporter Rafael Rojas takes us to a manmade island off Colombia's Caribbean coast to see how we might be able to live with the seas. Meanwhile, reporter Furkan Khan takes us into the high, cold desert region of Ladakh to see if heading for the hills might be the answer.

As Marnie searches for a climate-proof destination, she speaks to conservation biogeographer Matt Fitzpatrick, from the Appalachian Laboratory at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. He's made a map that shows what towns and cities will feel like in 60 years and where you should visit in order to get a preview of your home's future climate. But Matt also tells us that we might not be the only ones on the move.

And as climate scientist Ruth Mottram from the Danish Meteorological Institute tells us, waters are not going to rise evenly around the world. So can Marnie find a place to go, away from the expanding seas?

Additional contributors:
Alexander Atencio, environmental sustainability teacher, Santa Cruz del Islote, Colombia
Sebastian Martinez, local leader, Santa Cruz del Islote, Colombia
Professor Mohammad Din, Ladakh Environment and Health Organisation
Ellen and Carl Fiederickson, teacher and sheep farmers, Qassiarsuk, Greenland

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton
Producer: Sam Baker

Accessibility links

Programme Index

CrowdScience

Where do we go when the seas rise?

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

About BBC World Service