UNITED NATIONS: Although small island countries are the most vulnerable to rising sea levels, the scope of those impacted is much wider, the President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Dennis Francis warned Thursday.
Addressing a special summit meeting, Francis – a senior diplomat from Trinidad and Tobago – said he was determined to make sure the matter gets the attention it deserves during his presidency.
With the climate crisis unfolding rapidly, the need for innovative and more inclusive approaches to slowing climate change, including rising sea levels, has been resonating throughout High-Level Week, especially at the Climate Ambition Summit.
For many countries, particularly the Small Island Developing States, the problem at hand represents an existential threat.
Francis said that this is not a speculation or over-exaggeration but a reality.
The UN body assessing the science related to climate change estimates that under current conditions the global mean sea level is likely to surge between 8 and 29 centimeters by 2030, with equatorial regions suffering the most.
The rise is mainly caused by thermal expansion, aggravated by the melting of ice cap and mountain glaciers, with a further rise anticipated of up to seventy cm by 2070.
Extreme sea level events which used to occur once every century could become an annual phenomenon by the close of the century.
Francis warned that a staggering nine hundred million people living in low-lying coastal zones are at risk of losing their habitats due to rising sea levels and other climate effects. The problem extends far beyond coastal communities.
UNGA President see no is immune
He said that no one is immune to a potential catastrophe and fertile river deltas like Mekong, the Mississippi, and Nile – the world’s breadbaskets – are sinking.
Beyond the grave impacts on livelihoods and communities, sea-level rise carries more implications, spanning environmental, political, technical, legal, economic, cultural, and human rights dimensions.
