Cannes, Cancun, Torremolinos and West Palm Beach this is the roll call of some of the worlds favourite beaches which are facing wipeout due to sea level rise.

Scientists in Northern Ireland are warning it could take a sea level rise of just a few feet to threaten some of the world's most famous beach resorts.

According to Professor Andrew Cooper, Professor of coastal studies in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Ulster, the problems caused by changing sea levels are being compounded by a lack of political will and a lack of short-term coastal management initiatives.

While sea level rise is the most pervasive driver of coastal change, beaches are not necessarily threatened by sea level rise alone.

The problem arises when beaches are artificially hemmed in and not given room to move, the Coleraine-based academic said.

Beaches have survived 120m of sea level rise over the last 10,000 years. Problems only arise if we dont give beaches room to move and to adjust to the changing sea level, Professor Cooper said.

A key attractor in most of the worlds examples of coastal resort cities has been the presence of an adjacent beach.

Some well-known examples are Benidorm, Torremolinos, Cannes, West Palm Beach, Florida, Atlantic City, New Jersey, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Virginia Beach, Virginia, Cancun and the most rapidly developed of all coastal resort cities, Dubai.

In all of these resorts the challenge is to preserve the real estate behind the beach and still save the beaches, which are being pushed landwards by rising sea level.

People are responding to the threat of rising sea level by building walls to protect valuable property.

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Northern Ireland scientist warns of disaster facing famous beaches