Environmental and economic implications of rising sea level and subsiding deltas: the Nile and Bengal examples

The effects of natural and accelerated subsidence, combined with a probable decreased influx of fluvial sediment, may accentuate greatly the rise of sea level in low-lying deltas over the next 100 years. By the year 2100 local sea level at the Nile and Bangladesh deltas, respectively, could be as much as 3.3 to 4.5 meters higher than at present. At the higher calculated ranges, Egypt and Bangladesh could lose 26 and 34% of their currently habitable land. The additional loss of shoreline by erosion, loss of mangrove forests, and decreased agriculture and fisheries would exacerbate environmental and economic impacts.