Vanishing shores – Coastal erosion in Latvia is speeding up

 

The small village of Bernati in western Latvia is suffering from coastal erosion. The sand dunes and the national park attract many visitors, but the sea is moving steadily closer.

 

Storms and changing sea currents – influenced by the building of the port of Liepaja – carry away tons of sand every year. Several farms have already been lost to the sea.

 

Ernests Schliesseris secured the perimeters of his home with rubble to keep the waves at bay, but the future remains uncertain.

"I don't know,” he says. “I don't see much of a future here. If the sea comes from the other side one day, from behind, then all this will go.”