Assessment of Coastal Inundation Cost Due to Future Sea Level Rise: A Case Study for Kuwait

A preliminary assessment on the economic loss due to 1.0 m sea level rise induced inundation for the Kuwait is carried out. Kuwaiti coast of 500 km is divided into 162 segments and landward slope of the coast was assessed based on field measurements of coastal profiles. The prevailing cost of coastal land for all coastal segments are used for economic impact assessment. It is found that 29% of the coastal land in Kuwait is in the very low inundation cost category (less than 20,000 Kuwaiti Dinar (KD)/m of coast length (1 KD = 3.3 US $)); 19% is in the low inundation cost category (20,000 to 50,000 KD/m of coast length); 16% is in the moderate inundation cost category (50,000 to 100,000 KD/m of coast length); 14% in the high inundation cost category (100,000 to 200,000 KD/m of coast length) and 22% is in the very high inundation cost category (greater than 200,000 KD/m of coast length). The total inundation cost due to permanent inundation of coastal land area for 1.0 m sea level rise is 58.726 Billion KD (i.e., 193.8 billion US $), which is equivalent to 3.58 years of income for Kuwait due to crude oil export.