Jan 22, 2008, 15:32 GMT
Belfast - Northern Ireland's only UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Giant's Causeway, is under threat from rising sea levels, according to a report by the National Trust published Tuesday in Belfast.
Researchers from Northern Ireland's two universities found that the collection of hexagonal basalt columns on the north coast, which legend says was built by the giant Finn McCool to fight a Scottish rival, could be partly inaccessible before the end of the century.
'The Giant's Causeway is likely to experience increased storminess, with a greater area of the causeway stones washed by waves by 2050, while by 2100 access to parts of the causeway could be more difficult, particularly in winter,' the report, entitled Shifting Shores: Living with a Changing Coastline, said.
Two other National Trust sites in County Down are also under threat: the fragile 6,000-year-old sand dunes near Newcastle in Murlough National Nature Reserve and the feeding and nesting grounds of migratory birds on Strangford Lough.
The Murlough reserve could lose between 50 and 400 metres of dunes to erosion, 'while tidal and storm flooding could reach 1 metre higher than present day extremes,' the report said.
In Strangford Lough, a sea level rise of up to 25 centimetres is predicted by 2050, and possibly by up to 1 metre by 2100, wiping out the eel-grass-rich wetlands where birds like Brent geese nest and feed.
'Northern Ireland's coastline will be a changing, and indeed challenging, environment in the 21st century. The National Trust, and many other bodies, must prepare now to meet the uncertain challenges ahead,' said Professor Julian Orford of Queen's University, Belfast, who led the research.
National Trust's Director for Northern Ireland Hilary McGrady said the research was essential so that government, landowners and coastal communities could plan for the future.
The National Trust is a British charity that looks after over 200 kilometres of the coast of Northern Ireland, or a third of the total.
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