17,000 years ago you could walk from Germany to England, from Russia to America, from mainland Australia to Tasmania. Sea levels were about 120 metres lower than today. But, as the last Ice Age ended, the oceans rose quickly by one metre a century on average.
Vast swathes of coastal habitat were wiped out. Recovery took thousands of years.
Rapid sea level rise and coastal habitat retreat will happen again if warming levels rise above Paris Agreement targets, warns a global research team led by Macquarie University, which included Professor Catherine Lovelock from The University of Queensland's School of the Environment.
