Last fall, the Environmental Protection Agency 9EPA) and the National Academy of Sciences published major reports on the "greenhouse effect." The reports concluded that increasing concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide and other gases will raise global temperatures a few degrees in the next century. This warming trend would cause ocean water to expand, mountain glaciers to melt, and perhaps eventually, polar ice to slide into the oceans, thereby raising sea level one to five feet in the next century.
EPA's Strategic Studies Staff is currently conducting studies on: possible impacts of such a rise in sea level; options by which the adverse consequences might be reduced; and the value to society of obtaining more accurate forecasts of future sea level rise. The following article is adapted from a draft scoping paper prepared by the Environmental Law's Institute's Wetlands Program and Strategic Studies Staff. The scoping paper proposes a set of case studies to improve our understanding of the implications of sea level rise for wetland protection efforts.