JERUSALEM, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Israel is rapidly losing its Mediterranean Sea coastline due to rising sea levels and unchecked real estate development, according to an annual report issued on Wednesday by the Israeli environmental organization Adam Teva V'Din.
The report warns that the Mediterranean's rapid warming is driving sea levels at Israel's beaches up by about 3.2 mm per year, above the global average, causing the shoreline to retreat eastward.
Despite this shift, official planning boundaries have not been updated since 2005, allowing outdated development plans to encroach on protected beach zones, the report noted.
It said Israel once had less than 2 centimeters of beach per capita, and with over 2 million new residents since then, pressure on the fragile shoreline has further intensified.
To address the crisis, the report urges a national coastal protection strategy, including urgent legal reforms, cancellation of obsolete building projects, mandatory climate impact assessments, and a pivot to nature-based engineering solutions. ■
