Rising sea levels a threat to D-Day coastline

CAEN, France — As France prepares to mark 80 years since Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, the historic coastline faces a new threat — rising sea levels linked to climate change.

More than 100 kilometers of Normandy's coastline still bears traces of June 6, 1944, including bunkers, shipwrecked vessels and other vestiges from the Allied troops' first step to freeing Western Europe from Nazi German occupation.

But now, the English Channel, from which 150,000 Allied troops conducted the largest seaborne invasion in history, threatens those same heritage sites.

Rising sea levels are eroding dunes and cliffs, while marshes and reclaimed land risk submersion at sites visited by millions each year.

The D-Day sites "already bear no resemblance to what Allied soldiers experienced on June 6, 1944", said Regis Leymarie, a geographer with the Coastal Conservatory in Normandy.

"We're in the process of moving from historic sites to places for interpreting history," he added.

Rising global sea temperatures are accelerating the melting of polar ice caps and increasing sea levels, posing a threat to Normandy's coastal communities.

In Graye-sur-Mer, a village along Juno Beach, the sea has toppled entire bunkers, leaving residents worried that history is being swept out with the tide.

For Leymarie, the only thing left to do is adapt to the coming changes. "We're coming to the end of the D-Day landing sites as we knew them," he said. "And nature will reclaim its right."

Agencies Via Xinhua