More than a third of Mediterranean wetlands could disappear underwater by 2100, with the Camargue particularly threatened

More than a third of the wetlands in the Mediterranean basin are threatened by the risk of marine submersion. FREE MIDI ILLUSTRATION – ALEXIS BETHUNE

A study published this Thursday, May 16 in the journal Conservation Biology warns of the consequences of global warming in the Mediterranean. 320 coastal wetlands in the Mediterranean basin could disappear under water by 2100.

Sad observation made by the British journal Conservation Biology : in a study published this Thursday, May 16, the scientific journal warns of the risks of marine submersion which threatens more than a third of the wetlands of the Mediterranean basin.

The fault is global warming, which at the same time threatens to destroy a precious habitat for coastal birds.

Four times Paris submerged in the Camargue

Due to rising sea levels, more than half of the world's coastal wetlands could disappear, submerged under water, by 2100, previous studies have already shown. According to the definition of Ministry of the Environment, wetlands are transition zones at the interface of terrestrial and aquatic environments, characterized by the presence of water, on the surface or in the ground.

At the scale of the Mediterranean basin, Conservation Biology reveals that 34.4% of the 938 coastal sites around the Mediterranean, i.e. 320 coastal wetlands in total, are threatened with extinction. rsquo;here at 2100 by rising sea levels.

The Camargue regional natural park, the largest French wetland, "could, for example, undergo the submersion of a surface area of ​​land equivalent to four times the surface area of ​​Paris", indicates a press release from the National Museum of Natural History, which participated in the study with the Research Institute for the Conservation of Areas Mediterranean wetlands of the Tour du Valat.

Highly endangered waterbirds

These submergences could be catastrophic for the local bird population. Among these threatened areas are between 54.1% and 60.7% of sites of international importance for waterbirds, such as pink flamingos, Pied avocets or gadwall ducks. , especially during the wintering or nesting period. As these birds do not have alternative habitat, these threats could "negatively affect" their numbers and the ecosystems associated with them.

More bad news: "these figures are undoubtedly underestimated", note the authors of the ;rsquo;study, highlighting that many coastal areas, notably in Spain, have not been included and that other threats (coastal erosion, salinization, overtourism…) have not been taken into account.

For all these reasons, researchers recommend "the urgent implementation of adaptation measures" in these sites, such as the construction of dikes but above all, more effective in the long term, the implementation of solutions based on nature (fixing dunes with vegetation) or even an extension of protected areas to combat uncontrolled urbanization in particular.