The UN secretary general, António Guterres has warned that an increase in the pace at which sea levels are rising threatens “a mass exodus of entire populations on a biblical scale” as a tenth of the human race is at risk from rising sea levels.
Sea level rise is being driven by the melting of ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctic and mountain glaciers which add water to the ocean. Scientists have determined that the ocean absorbs more than 90 per cent of the excess heat from greenhouse gases, causing water to expand as it heats up.
Sea levels have risen increasingly rapidly since about 1970 and in the past 100 years, sea levels have risen more than in any century over at least the last three millennia. The global average sea level has risen at a rate of about 4mm (0.16 inches) per year over the last decade.
With nearly half of the global population living within 97km (60 miles) of the coast, the rise in sea levels is already impacting people in many parts of the world. The frequency of coastal flooding has near doubled since the 1960s, and it will remain a hazard.
Speaking at the Security Council debate on “Sea-level rise: implications for international peace and security” in New York, Guterres said that rising seas are sinking futures” as the climate crisis is causing sea levels to rise faster than they were 3,000 years ago, thereby bringing a “torrent of trouble” to almost a billion people and warned that some nations could cease to exist because they would be drowned under the waves.
“Sea-level rise is not only a threat in itself, but it’s also a threat-multiplier,”he said. “For the hundreds of millions of people living in small island developing states and other low-lying coastal areas around the world, sea-level rise is a torrent of trouble,” he was quoted as saying”.
Guterres noted that needed actions include slashing carbon emissions, addressing problems such as poverty that worsen the impact of the rising seas on communities and developing new international laws to protect those made homeless.
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Significant sea level rise is already inevitable with current levels of global heating, but the consequences of failing to tackle the problem are “unthinkable”, Guterres said, adding that low-lying communities and entire countries could disappear forever as there would be a “mass exodus of entire populations on a biblical scale”.
A new compilation of data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) shows that sea levels are rising fast and the global ocean has warmed faster over the past century than at any time in the past 11,000 years. Sea levels rise as warmer water expands and ice caps and glaciers melt.
“The danger is especially acute for nearly 900 million people who live in coastal zones at low elevations – that’s 1 out of 10 people on earth. Some coastlines have already seen triple the average rate of sea level rise.”
On his part, Prof Petteri Taalas, WMO secretary general, said: “Sea level rise imposes risks to economies, livelihoods, settlements, health, wellbeing, food and water security and cultural values in the near to long term.”
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
