Climate change: what's in store where you live?
North West:
Large tracts of the North West’s industry, including petrochemicals and a nuclear power plant, are vulnerable to tidal surges and river flooding because they are only just above the existing high tide sea level or located on flat, low-lying land.
The North West will suffer greatly from the impacts of rising temperatures, with agriculture covering 80% of the region. Rising sea levels are another serious threat, because the region’s coastline is generally low-lying, and urbanised in the south. Around 95,000 people live in the coastal floodplain, which is also the base for much of the region’s industry and some of its tourist attractions.
Modelling suggests that by 2080, without action to tackle carbon dioxide emissions, temperatures could rise by between 1° and 5°C in the region. Winter rainfall is expected to rise by 30% and summer rain decrease by 50%. There would be substantially less snow fall than is generally expected today and sea levels could rise by as much as 67cm. In Liverpool alone, sea levels have already risen 6cm in the last 50 years.
The rural uplands of the North West (from the Cumbrian mountains to the Forest of Bowland, the Western and Southern Pennines and the Peak District fringes) are home to species that have spent thousands of years evolving to suit the region’s cold maritime climate. As temperatures creep up and rainfall fluctuates, these species will become increasingly vulnerable, despite the potential to migrate northward.
Find out what's in store elsewhere in the UK:
