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The Isle of Wight in the south of England, this mecca for British tourism of the Belle

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Epoque is experiencing a real tragedy. For the past 20 years land erosion has been

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speeding up. Every winter several hundred square metres of the island disappear. Houses

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are washed away, swallowed by the sea. Roads drop into the void. This amusement park for

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instance, the oldest in Britain, will be gone in another 20 years. The principal economic

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resource of the island, tourism and its related activities concentrated on the coast are in

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serious danger today. Coastal erosion is not a new phenomenon, but recent scientific

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studies have demonstrated that it has accelerated considerably in recent years. Two factors

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are responsible for this acceleration. Rainfall on the island has become more abundant and

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the sea level is rising. Two consequences of climate change that could be attributed

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to global warming. The Isle of Wight is not a unique case. The entire planet is concerned

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by climate change. The population of the earth is growing bigger and bigger and our

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way of life has an impact on the evolution of the climate. Industry, cars, heating and

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air conditioning and electrical appliances consume tremendous amounts of energy. The

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release into the air of combustion gases adds to the greenhouse effect and holds the heat

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in the planet's atmosphere. In the next century the average temperature on our planet could

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well rise 1 to 3 degrees, causing the polar ice cap to melt and leading to a considerable

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rise in the sea level, with dramatic consequences for the planet as a whole.

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Some regions close to sea level would be in danger. In the Netherlands, for example, existing

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sea walls might not provide sufficient protection and could need to be raised. And some already

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see certain recent catastrophes as the first signs of this global warming. In Central America,

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for instance, Hurricane Mitch, with its record-setting force, caused unprecedented destruction in

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November 1998. In Bangladesh, floods have become increasingly frequent and persistent.

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The rising sea level threatens entire regions that are particularly heavily populated.

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In France, the storms of December 1999 were of a violence and scope never before seen

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in that part of the world. Mindful of the necessity of building sustainable development,

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governments from all over the globe met in 1992 in Rio. At that meeting, they signed

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the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In this convention, they agreed

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to reduce their emissions of CO2. This undertaking was made even tougher in 1997 with the signature

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of the Kyoto Protocol. The European Union, for instance, agreed in this protocol to

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reduce its greenhouse gases 8% by 2010. Are we aware that we need to change our way of

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life, our personal, social and economic habits to attain this objective? And most importantly,

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are we willing to do so?

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