UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in an address to the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) last month, pointed out the dramatic impact of climate change triggering natural disasters around the world— from glaciers that melt, ice caps that disappear and corals that bleach. But more and more, he said, the devastating impacts are on the life of the people and in the health of people around the world.
“If we are not able to defeat climate change”, Guterres warned “we will have in 2050 an impact of the sea-level rise on over 300 million people”. Of these 300 million people, 70% are in countries in the Asia-Pacific region where coastal cities could be “wiped out” if there aren’t enough sea defences in place.
Dr Benjamin Straus, president and CEO of Climate Central, who along with Scott Kulp, co-authored the report, was quoted by Cable News Network (CNN) as saying: “The results indicate that, yes, a great deal more people are on vulnerable land than we thought.” And they need to take immediate action to avoid the impending “economic and humanitarian catastrophe.”
As the sea-level continues to rise, the world’s low-lying countries, mostly in the Pacific, will be the worst affected by the climate crisis, which is not of their own creation. The most vulnerable include the Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs), plus eight Asian countries: Bangladesh, China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Japan, according to the report.
The Maldives, Marshall Islands, Kiribati and Tuvalu are mere meters above sea level and have no higher ground to which they can retreat. These countries will become uninhabitable long before they are “wiped off the face of the earth” by sea level rise and disasters. Even relatively small increases in sea level will lead to more wave flooding (raising up the ‘base level’ of the natural wave variation in the Pacific) and this wave flooding will poison fresh water supplies and crops. However not enough is being done to respond to the climate change crisis facing Pacific Island Nations.
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