Home / Environment / Chile's Beaches Face Alarming Erosion, Risking Disappearance in 10 Years
Chile's Beaches Face Alarming Erosion, Risking Disappearance in 10 Years
30 Jul
Summary
- 86% of Chile's 67 tracked beaches are steadily shrinking
- 10 beaches already had high erosion in 2023 and are now losing ground twice as fast
- Causes include climate change, rising sea levels, and human-made factors like urbanization
According to a team of scientists in Chile, the country's central and southern coastlines are facing a concerning erosion crisis that could lead to the disappearance of at least 10 beaches within the next 10 years. The researchers have been tracking erosion on 67 beaches and found that 86% of them are steadily shrinking, even during the spring and summer months when they typically recover.
Ten of these beaches, which already had high erosion rates in 2023, have continued to rapidly lose ground, with the rate of erosion now about twice as high. The causes are both natural and human-made, with climate change-driven intense and frequent swells, rising sea levels, sudden downpours, and heatwaves contributing to the problem. Unchecked urbanization and the degradation of river basins that supply sand to the coast have also exacerbated the issue.
In some areas, such as Puerto Saavedra in the southern Araucania region, storm surges have carved sinkholes into roads and cliffs, cutting off access to some communities. The saltwater is also damaging nearby forests. Local businesses in popular tourist towns are already feeling the impact, with one restaurant owner in Valparaiso reporting that "last year was brutal... the beach disappeared, and there was no space between us and the sea."
