How is the world dealing with coastal erosion?
Climate change is causing rising sea levels around the world, with coastal communities taking the brunt of the damage.
A new report from the Environment Agency has suggested at least £1billion needs to be spent a year to maintain Britain's coastal and flood defences - or the nation faces losing homes and communities.
Here is how the rest of the world has been dealing with the issue of coastal erosion:
South Korea
The Saemangeum Seawall, located on the south west coast of South Korea, is ranked as the world's longest sea wall. At more than 21 miles long, it links headlands south of the city of Gunsan.
It holds the Guinness World Record for its size.
The wall was built with the ambition of reclaiming land for agricultural and industrial use, sparking fury from campaigners who said it was more important to preserve a natural habitat for wildlife.
The wall was officially completed in 2010 and reclaims more than 155 square miles of land from the sea.
The Netherlands
When The Netherlands was struck by catastrophic flooding in 1953, it was clear action was needed to ensure such devastation would not happen again.
The centrepiece of that plan is the Delta Works programme in the south west of the country. Completed in 1997 with the opening of the enormous Maeslantkering storm surge barrier near Rotterdam, this is a system of 13 dams and moveable gates that sit in the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta.
The system cost tens of billions of euros over more than four decades and includes thousands of kilometres of dikes and canals that can carry away excess water and levees along the coasts.
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United Kingdom
Millions of pounds worth of damage was when flooding hit Cumbria in 2009, homes and communities were left destroyed.
The geography of the county means that main which falls on higher ground is funnelled into every narrowing river channels before it reaches the sea. In Keswick, this saw the river Greta overflowed its banks and saw a deluge of water consume much of the tourist town.
£6million was spent on flood defences, strengthening walls and erecting a new higher barrier so that should the river breach its banks again, it wouldn't overflow into homes and businesses.
In the south-west of England, engineers are fighting a losing battle with the sea as they try to maintain a vital transport link at Dawlish.
A 300-strong National Rail team repaired the track over 56 days and nights, where the sea wall and parts of the station were wrecked in February's severe storms.
The work was hampered by severe storms and monstrous seas battering the 10-tonne shipping containers forming the temporary sea wall.
In total, it cost more than £80million to protect the railway line from the sea.