If critical

habitats are

lost, the

whole

balance

of the

migratory

process can be

thrown off.

Climate change will affect migratory birds in many ways, but probably the most serious impacts will be the inundation of coastal wetlands as a result of sea-level rise. Just a few centimeters rise in sea-level can have disastrous consequences for low-lying coastal land, often flooding huge areas of the marshes or mudflats that are essential shorebird feeding grounds. Higher sea-levels increase storm damage and accelerate the process of coastal erosion. About 70% of the world's sandy shorelines are eroding away, and sea-level rise is predicted to worsen the situation. Some of the world's most valuable bird areas could be partially or totally lost to sea-level rise, including the Chesapeake Bay in the US, The Wash and the North Norfolk Coast in the UK, parts of the Danube Delta in Romania, and Port Philip Bay in Australia. Studies show that Bangladesh, Malaysia, Senegal and Uruguay would lose all their remaining coastal wetlands under a scenario of a one meter rise in sea-level. Nigeria, Venezuela and Argentina would all lose more than half their coastal wetlands.