HAPPISBURGH, England — A 12-bedroom guest house with beautiful
views of the North Sea, a lighthouse and sandy beaches would
normally be considered prime property in Britain, a nation where
real estate prices are booming. But Cliff House is nearly
worthless. The offshore wooden barrier that once protected the
sand and clay cliffs where the house sits in this quaint village
has broken apart, and the government has decided not to replace
it. "The next big storm could take us away," said Diana
Wrightson, one of two elderly women who bought Cliff House 26
years ago, assuming the coastline would always be protected.
Across Britain, the expected rise in sea levels and storm surges
that experts attribute to global warming means that some
vulnerable coastal areas just are not worth defending any more.
Experts say receding coastlines are a crisis felt around the
world. Some examples: - Indonesia's environment minister has
predicted that some 2,000 of Indonesia's estimated 18,000
islands would be swallowed by the sea in