Mumbai To New York, Rising Sea Levels Will Impact Mega Cities: UN Chief
NDTV
Guterres said that according to the World Meteorological Organisation, even if global heating is "miraculously" limited to 1.5 degrees, there will still be a sizeable sea level rise.
Mega cities like Mumbai and New York will face serious impacts from rising sea levels, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned on Tuesday, as he exhorted the global community to address climate crisis, which he said is the "root cause of rising seas." "Rising seas are sinking futures. Sea-level rise is not only a threat in itself. It is a threat-multiplier. For the hundreds of millions of people living in small island developing states and other low-lying coastal areas around the world, sea-level rise is a torrent of trouble," Guterres said at the UN Security Council debate on 'Sea-Level Rise- Implications for International Peace and Security.' He asserted that rising seas threaten the very existence of some low-lying communities and even countries.
He noted that global average sea levels have risen faster since 1900 than over any preceding century in the last 3,000 years and the global ocean has warmed faster over the past century than at any time in the past 11,000 years.
Guterres said that according to the World Meteorological Organisation, even if global heating is "miraculously" limited to 1.5 degrees, there will still be a sizeable sea level rise.
"But every fraction of a degree counts. If temperatures rise by 2 degrees, that level rise could double, with further temperature increases bringing exponential sea level increases. Under any scenario, countries like Bangladesh, China, India and the Netherlands are all at risk," he said.
