SUSSEX’S sandy beaches could be under threat due to climate change.

A European Joint Research Centre study warned more than half of the world’s sandy beaches could disappear in 70 years’ time because of coastal erosion caused by more frequent storms.

Sandy beaches such as those in West Wittering, near Chichester, and Camber Sands, near Rye, are threatened the most.

“Potential increases in sea level of more than a metre in Sussex by 2100 mean storms and erosive wave activity are reaching further up our beaches and cliffs,” said University of Brighton geography lecturer Ray Ward.

“We’ve also got predictions of more frequent high-intensity rain events.

“This means more water pressure within faults and fractures in the chalk cliffs and more frequent cliff collapses.”

Sussex’s plentiful shingle beaches are more resistant to erosion, Dr Ward said.

But he warned the county’s coastline is “certainly under threat” from climate change.

“The bulk of the beaches in Sussex are shingle, which is much less easily eroded,” he said.

“Predictions are that we’ll have more frequent and intense storms, which will lead to greater erosion of our coasts.

“These undercut cliffs and cause cliff collapse as well as removing beach sediment.”

Many beaches are already feeling the effects of frequent storms.

Villagers in Climping, near Littlehampton, were stranded earlier this year after Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis tore through the shingle.

Sea defences were destroyed beyond economic repair, the Environment Agency said.

Many beaches are expected to disappear by the end of the century.

But scientists insist cutting greenhouse gas emissions could cut future erosion by 40 per cent.

“Erosion is a major problem facing sandy beaches that will worsen with the rising sea levels brought about by climate change,” a European Joint Research Centre spokesman said.

“Effective climate action could prevent 40 per cent of that erosion.

“Sandy beaches serve as natural buffer zones that protect the coastline and backshore coastal ecosystems from waves, surges and marine flooding.

“Their role as shock absorbers will become more important with the rising sea levels and more intense storms expected with climate change.”

The study’s authors said sandy beaches “cannot be taken for granted”.

“A substantial proportion of the world’s sandy coastline is already eroding,” they said.