UNITED NATIONS: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday warned that rising sea levels threaten to create “a rising tide of misery” for millions of people, with intense storm surges, coastal erosion and coastal flooding increasingly likely as a result of climate change.
Speaking at a summit focused on the dangers of sea level rise, Guterres highlighted the growing risks of intense storm surges, coastal erosion, and flooding that threaten low-lying coastal zones inhabited by approximately 900 million people.
“Rising seas mean a rising tide of misery,” Guterres said, emphasizing that the consequences of climate change are becoming increasingly dire. He attributed the phenomenon primarily to greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel combustion, which are heating the planet, causing seawater to expand and polar ice to melt.
The Secretary-General said that since the beginning of the 20th century, global mean sea levels have risen at an unprecedented rate, outpacing any previous century in at least the last 3,000 years. This alarming trend is projected to accelerate further, with potentially catastrophic implications for vulnerable nations.
Citing research from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Guterres warned that five nations—the Maldives, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, and Kiribati—could become uninhabitable by the year 2100. This scenario could result in the displacement of around 600,000 climate refugees, stripping entire communities of their homes and livelihoods.
Guterres detailed the broad spectrum of impacts that rising sea levels could unleash: “Communities swamped, fresh water contaminated, crops ruined, infrastructure damaged, biodiversity destroyed, and economies decimated—sectors such as fisheries, agriculture, and tourism pummeled.”
