Ajit Karn
United Nations: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday that rising sea levels will have serious effects on megacities like Mumbai and New York. He urged the world to do something about the climate crisis, which he called the “root cause” of rising seas. “Rising seas make futures sink. Rising sea levels are not just a threat in and of themselves. It makes the threat bigger. Guterres said at the UN Security Council debate on “Sea-Level Rise: Implications for International Peace and Security” that rising sea levels are a torrent of trouble for the hundreds of millions of people who live in small island developing states and other low-lying coastal areas around the world. He said that rising seas could make it impossible for some low-lying communities and even countries to stay alive.
He pointed out that the average sea level has risen faster since 1900 than in any other century in the last 3,000 years, and that the ocean has warmed faster in the last 100 years than at any other time in the last 11,000 years.
Guterres said that the World Meteorological Organization says the sea level will rise even if global warming is “miraculously” kept to 1.5 degrees.
“But every little bit of a degree matters. If the temperature goes up by 2 degrees, the sea level could rise by 4 feet. If the temperature goes up even more, the sea level will rise even faster. Countries like Bangladesh, China, India, and the Netherlands are all at risk, no matter what happens,” he said.
“Megacities on every continent, like Cairo, Lagos, Maputo, Bangkok, Dhaka, Jakarta, Mumbai, Shanghai, Copenhagen, London, Los Angeles, New York, Buenos Aires, and Santiago, will be seriously affected,” he said.
The head of the UN stressed that the danger is especially serious for the nearly 900 million people who live in low-lying coastal areas. That’s one in ten people on earth, and some coastlines have already seen sea levels rise three times as fast as the average rate.
Guterres told the meeting that rising seas are already causing new sources of instability and conflict. He said that the international community must act quickly to stop this rising tide of insecurity, especially by addressing the climate crisis, which is the main cause of rising seas.
“Our world is speeding past the 1.5-degree warming limit that is needed for a livable future, and with the way things are going, it will speed up to 2.8 degrees, which is a death sentence for countries that are already struggling. “We need to work together more quickly to cut emissions and make sure climate justice,” he said.
“This means, among other things, delivering on the loss and damage fund, keeping the USD 100 billion climate finance promise to developing countries, doubling the money for adaptation, and getting a lot of private money at a reasonable price,” he said.
Guterres also said that it is important to learn more about what causes insecurity.
“That means finding and fixing a lot more things that hurt security, like poverty, discrimination, inequality, human rights violations, and natural disasters like rising sea levels.” Guterres also said that the effects of rising seas need to be taken into account in legal and human rights frameworks.
He said, “Rising sea levels are literally making landmasses smaller, which could lead to disputes over territorial integrity and maritime space.”
He also said that the current legal system needs to look to the future and fix any holes in the way things are done.
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“Yes, this is related to international law on refugees. But it also means coming up with new legal and practical ways to deal with the effects of rising sea levels on people who are forced to move and on the very existence of some states’ land territory,” he said.
“People’s human rights don’t go away just because they lose their homes. We need to keep working to protect the people who are affected and protect their basic human rights.” The head of the UN said that the Security Council has a key role to play in building the political will needed to deal with the terrible security problems caused by rising seas.
“We must all work to keep bringing more attention to this important issue and to help the lives, livelihoods, and communities of people who are right in the middle of this crisis,” he said.
