Rising sea levels and bigger storms caused by climate change are speeding up coastal erosion in South Australia’s south-east. There are questions about what should be protected and what can be left to the Southern Ocean.
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00:00Waves have constantly pounded the spit of land that the Robe Obelisk sits on since it
00:07was built almost 170 years ago.
00:10Coastal erosion expert Professor Patrick Hesp says climate change is making the southern
00:15ocean rougher.
00:16There are worries the obelisk could soon topple into the sea.
00:20On the southern side, it's only a couple of metres away from the cliff edge.
00:24And so at that erosion rate, and there are quite significant cracks in the limestone
00:29there, so it could fail as soon as five, seven years.
00:34According to a report compiled for the local councils, the whole peninsula could disappear
00:39by 2050.
00:41So the local council has formed a committee to decide how to keep Robe's icon alive.
00:45It's found protecting the cape or moving the obelisk would be too expensive.
00:49We've decided to recommend to the council that we build a replica.
00:53The form of that is unknown at this stage, we've yet to make those decisions, but that's
00:59what we're going to recommend.
01:00If money can be found for a replica, there would be two obelisks just 400 metres apart
01:06until the original beacon ultimately sinks into the sea.
01:09Certainly no intention that Robe's ratepayers foot the bill, and of course once we have
01:14a known concept we'll be able to also seek ground funding which will be very helpful
01:18as well.
01:19Local government funding so far has focused on protecting houses and businesses like these
01:24at Kingston South East.
01:25But locals want natural assets protected too, like the Pool of Salome at Beachport that
01:31could become part of the ocean within 20 years.
01:34Life does change, things evolve, and maybe that's what will happen, but it would be very
01:39sad for the town.
01:41Local Mark Wheel would like a seawall installed along the bay known as the Salmon Hole to
01:45stop the dunes eroding.
01:47If we want to save dollars, we need to do something, and something is better than nothing.
01:54But Professor Hesp says more research is needed to fully understand the effect climate change
01:58is having on erosion.
02:00Just chucking in a seawall isn't necessarily going to solve the problem, particularly when
02:04you don't have good background data of how does the system work.
02:09Decisions would need to be made soon on what to protect and what to give up to the ocean.
02:12Eugene Boisvert, ABC News.