#Zandstranden cover more than a third of the global coastline and have a high socio-economic value related to recreation, tourism and ecosystem services. Beaches are the interface between land and ocean and provide coastal protection against maritime storms and cyclones.

Without human intervention, sandy beaches in large parts of the world will retreat from tens to hundreds of metres inland this century. By far the main cause of this is the expected rise in sea level, but also the erosive effects of waves play a part. This is evidenced by a study, mainly Dutch, published on Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

How far beaches will actually retreat depends largely on two things: future greenhouse gas emissions and countries' capacity to combat coastal erosion, for example by spraying sand.

Storm Ciara kept quite a house on the Dutch coast last month, like here near Vlissingen, where large parts of the beach were wiped out. #klimaat

Sandy coastlines under threat of erosion