The (Future) Wales Coast Path seeks to raise awareness of the impermanence of the land many of us take for granted, and to open up a local and global conversation about flooding, sea level rise, and adaptation.
The project physicalises the future of our shoreline and highlights the habitat, communities, and physical space we may have to say goodbye to. Throughout 2022, communities on the Gwent Levels and the Indian island of Sagar were invited to walk together over a year, between the current shoreline and the future edge of the land, and to document, share stories, and begin conversations about the future of these places. Some of this documentation and future mapping is available to see on the project website, and was distilled into a book.
Arriving at the future shoreline at Magor Marsh on the Gwent Levels (several miles inland), audiences met a lighthouse whose light reacts to tidal data from to a buoy located in the Indian Sundarbans, where regular tidal inundation is already a reality. The lighthouses are a warning system, a navigation marker for the future and an indication that we are not alone and can learn from those at the frontline of the climate crisis if we are open to doing so.
You can still visit the Lighthouses which are now installed at Newport Wetlands RSPB reserve, and in the village of Langport on the Somerset Levels, and take your own journey across impermanent land from there to the sea.
Website: https://futurecoastpath.org/about/
Lead Partner: Alison Neighbour
Other Partners: Dr Emma McKinley (marine researcher, Cardiff University); Vikram Iyengar (artist); Severn Estuary Partnership, Gwent Wildlife Trust, Our Living Levels, Newport Riverfront, Newport Fusion, Natural Resources Wales, Ranan (Kolkata); Langport Town Council; RSPB Newport Wetlands
