Cities Like Los Angeles and Mumbai Are in Peril—One Billion People at Risk: Unprecedented Sea Level Rise Threatens Major Coastal Cities Worldwide

Govind Tekale

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has issued a stark warning regarding the accelerating rise in sea levels, particularly affecting vulnerable regions like the Pacific Islands, which face existential threats due to climate change.

Photo Source: Google

Photo source: google

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has reported that the rate of sea level rise is now the fastest it has been in the past 3,000 years, primarily driven by greenhouse gas emissions, with potentially devastating consequences for coastal cities.

According to Guterres, these effects are most visible in the small islands of the Pacific, where ocean "overflow" presents an existential threat, but eventually, nearly one billion people living in coastal megacities worldwide will face the same dangers.

Photo Source: Google

Photo source: google

The Pacific Islands are at the forefront of the climate crisis, with many nations facing the threat of becoming uninhabitable due to rising seas, as the islands' low elevations make them particularly vulnerable to rising ocean levels.

Guterres emphasised that limiting global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius, in line with the Paris Agreement, is the only way to prevent the irreversible collapse of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, which could lead to catastrophic sea level rise.

Photo Source: Google

Photo source: google

He specifically called on the G20 nations, which are responsible for 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions, to take the lead in climate action, urging them to fulfill their climate commitments to drastically cut emissions.

These countries must deliver on their promises made at COP28 to triple renewable energy capacity, double energy efficiency, and end deforestation by 2030, in order to significantly curb global warming and mitigate its impacts.

Photo Source: Google

Photo source: google

Guterres' speech serves as a rallying cry for immediate action to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change and to safeguard the future of vulnerable regions and the world at large, highlighting the urgency for global cooperation in the fight against climate change.

Basque Country Deploys 1,000 Smart Buoys to Track Plastic Waste—Find Out What They're Already Uncovering With Ulysses Project

Next Story