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A30 world news
Diabierna 12 november 2021

Frustration, defiance in village to be abandoned to the sea

need.”
Catrin Wager, a cabinet member of
Gwynedd Council, the local author- In Fairbourne, a continuing standoff
ity overseeing Fairbourne, stressed between villagers and officials under-
that while Fairbourne may be the lines that challenge. Residents feel
first Welsh coastal village to be desig- they have been unfairly singled out,
nated unviable due to climate change, and aren’t convinced there is a clear
it certainly won’t be the only one. timeframe on how quickly sea lev-
There’s no precedent for how to de- els will rise enough to threaten their
velop policies for helping the villagers homes. When and how will evacua-
adapt, she said. tion take place? Will they be compen-
sated, and if so how much should it
“We need more answers from the be?
Welsh and U.K. governments, that’s
my message going into this (U.N. There are no answers. The village
summit),” Wager said. “We really vicar, Ruth Hansford, said many resi-
need to get some guidance on not dents suffered “emotional fatigue”
only mitigating the effects of climate from years of uncertainty and nega-
change, but about how we adapt for tivity. Others simply decided to carry
things that are already happening.” on with their lives.

Across the U.K., half a million prop- Becky Offland and her husband re-
erties are at risk of coastal flooding -- cently took on the lease of the Glan
(AP) — Like many others who munity council. “If they want us out and that risk figure will jump to 1.5 Y Mor Hotel, going against the grain
came to Fairbourne, Stuart Eves by 2054, then they’ve got to have the million by the end of the 2080s, ac- and investing in the village’s future.
decided the coastal village in accommodation to put us in.” cording to the Climate Change Com- They’re hopeful their business will
northern Wales would be home mittee, an independent advisory body bring more visitors and financial sup-
for life when he moved here 26 No one here wants to leave. While set up under climate change laws. port to Fairbourne.
years ago. He fell in love with many are retirees, there are also young
the peaceful, slow pace of small families raising a next generation. Lo- Britain’s government, which is host- “It’s like a big family, this place.
village life in this community of cals speak proudly of their tight-knit ing the U.N. climate summit, needs It’s not a village, it’s a family,” said
about 700 residents, nestled be- community. And although the village to be much more upfront about such Offland, 36. “We’ll all fight to keep it
tween the rugged mountains and center only consists of a grocer’s, a risks, said Richard Dawson, a mem- where it is.”
the Irish Sea. fish and chip shop and a couple of ber of the committee and professor of
restaurants, residents say the pebbly engineering at Newcastle University. Down the street, Fairbourne Chippy
“I wanted somewhere my children beach and a small steam train draw owner Alan Jones, 64, also said he has
can have the same upbringing as I bustling crowds in the summer. Ultimately, “difficult decisions” need no plans to go anywhere.
had, so they can run free,” said Eves, to be made about many coastal settle-
72, who built a caravan park in the Natural Resources Wales, the gov- ments with disproportionately high “Until water actually comes in here,
village that he still runs with his son. ernment-sponsored organization re- numbers of older and poorer resi- ’til we physically can’t work, we’ll
“You’ve got the sea, you’ve got the sponsible for the sea defenses in Fair- dents, he said, and officials need to carry on,” he said.
mountains. It’s just a stunning place bourne, said the village is particularly prepare people for moving inland.
to live.” vulnerable because it faces multiple Eves said he and his son believe that
flooding risks. Built in the 1850s on “Whatever happens at COP the sea “what will be, will be.” But he will
That changed suddenly in 2014, a low-lying saltmarsh, Fairbourne level will continue to rise around mourn the inevitable disintegration
when authorities identified Fair- already lies beneath sea level at high the U.K., that’s something we abso- of the village he loves.
bourne as the first coastal community spring tide. During storms, the tidal lutely need to prepare for,” Dawson
in the U.K. to be at high risk of flood- level is more than 1.5 meters (5 feet) said. “We have to be realistic. We “You can’t sort of take this village
ing due to climate change. above the level of the village. can’t afford to protect everywhere. here, and put it over there and expect
The challenge for government is that it to work again,” he said. “What you
Predicting faster sea level rises and Scientists say U.K. sea levels have the problem is not being confronted have here is a human catastrophe, al-
more frequent and extreme storms risen about 10 centimeters (4 inches) with the urgency or openness that we beit on a small scale.”
due to global warming, the govern- in the past century. Depending on
ment said it could only afford to keep greenhouse gas emissions and actions
defending the village for another 40 that governments take, the predicted
years. Officials said that by 2054, it rise is 70 centimeters to 1 meter by
would no longer be safe or sustain- 2100.
able to live in Fairbourne.
Fairbourne is also at the mouth of an
Authorities have been working with estuary, with additional risks of flash
villagers on the process of so-called floods from the river running behind
“managed realignment” -- essentially, it. Officials have spent millions of
to move them away and abandon the pounds in strengthening a sea wall
village to the encroaching sea. and almost 2 miles of tidal defenses.

Overnight, house prices in Fair- While there are flood risks in many
bourne nosedived. Residents were other villages along the Welsh coast,
dubbed the U.K.’s first “climate ref- decisions on which areas to protect
ugees.” Many were left shocked and ultimately boil down to cost. Officials
angry by national headlines declaring say that in the case of Fairbourne, the
their whole village would be “decom- cost of maintaining flood defenses
missioned.” Seven years on, most of will become higher than “the value of
their questions about their future re- what we’re protecting.”
main unanswered.
The effects of climate change that
“They’ve doomed the village, and negotiators at the United Nations cli-
now they’ve got to try to rehome the mate summit in Glasgow, Scotland,
people. That’s 450 houses,” said Eves, are working to mitigate already are a
who serves as chair of the local com- reality here.