Parts of the Pacific are seeing sea levels rise at twice the rate of the global average, and they’re flooding far more often than they used to.
FILE - A section of land between trees is washed away due to rising seas on Nov. 6, 2015, in Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands.
“This is a crazy situation,” Guterres said. “Rising seas are a crisis entirely of humanity’s making. A crisis that will soon swell to an almost unimaginable scale, with no lifeboat to take us back to safety.” “This puts Pacific Island nations in grave danger,” Guterres said. About 90% of the region’s people live within 5 kilometers of the rising oceans, he said.
Sea levels are rising faster in the western tropical Pacific because of where the melting ice from western Antarctica heads, warmer waters and ocean currents, UN officials said.While he met in Nuku’alofa on Tuesday with Pacific nations on the environment at their leaders’ annual summit, a hundred local high school students and activists from across the Pacific marched for climate justice a few blocks away.
“The alarm is justified,” said S. Jeffress Williams, a retired U.S. Geological Survey sea level scientist. He said it’s especially bad for the Pacific islands because most of the islands are at low elevations, so people are more likely to get hurt. Three outside experts said the sea level reports accurately reflect what’s happening.
Between 1901 and 1971, the global average sea rise was 1.3 centimeters a decade, according to the UN report. Between 1971 and 2006 it jumped to 1.9 centimeters per decade, then between 2006 and 2018 it was up to 3.7 centimeters a decade. The last decade, seas have risen 4.8 centimeters .
@Pvigna Climate-Change Global-Warming
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
UN chief calls rising seas a 'worldwide catastrophe' that especially imperils Pacific paradisesUnited Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is putting out yet another climate SOS to the world. This time he says those initials stand for “save our seas' as he tours vulnerable Pacific island nations getting hit extra hard by rising sea level.
Read more »
UN chief calls rising seas a 'worldwide catastrophe' that especially imperils Pacific paradisesUnited Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is putting out yet another climate SOS to the world.
Read more »
UN chief calls rising seas a 'worldwide catastrophe' that especially imperils Pacific paradisesUnited Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is putting out yet another climate SOS to the world.
Read more »
Map Shows U.S. and China's Aircraft Carriers in Pacific This WeekBoth the U.S. and China have aircraft carriers underway in different parts of the Pacific Ocean.
Read more »
U.N. Chief Warns of ‘Annihilation’ of Pacific Islands from Climate ChangeSource of breaking news and analysis, insightful commentary and original reporting, curated and written specifically for the new generation of independent and conservative thinkers.
Read more »
UN chief says Pacific territories face climate 'annihilation'The UN says sea levels are rising in Pacific islands faster than the global average, posing an existential threat to the region.
Read more »