Begin relocating New Orleans now, say climate scientists

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Researchers have concluded that the process of relocating New Orleans, a 300-year-old city of more than 350,000 people, should begin today. The paper, published in Nature, estimates that New Orleans could be surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico within decades due to rising seas and a retreating coastline that could move as far as 100km inland. Climate scientists have described the US Gulf as the single most exposed coastal zone in the world. Although New Orleans is fortified with floodgates and levees, these will provide insufficient protection. In the 20th century, Muynak, once a thriving port town in Uzbekistan, became a symbol of man-made environmental destruction. With the Aral Sea shrunk to 10% of its former size, its ships now lie stranded in the desert. In the 21st century, the inverse symbol may end up being New Orleans.