The sparsely populated Pacific islands emit 0.02% of greenhouse gas emissions, but are hit hard by the effects of global warming, including rising sea levels.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has launched a “Global SOS” on rising sea levels in the Pacific on Tuesday at the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) summit, unveiling research showing that the sea level is rising faster than the global average. “I am in Tonga to issue a global SOS – Save our Seas – on rising sea levels. A global catastrophe is putting this Pacific paradise in jeopardy.”said Antonio Guterres.
The sparsely populated and poorly industrialized Pacific Islands collectively emit less than 0.02% of global annual greenhouse gas emissions. But this vast group of volcanic islands and low-lying coral atolls is being hit hard by the effects of global warming, particularly through rising sea levels.
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According to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) presented at the Forum, sea levels have risen by an average of 9.4 cm globally over the past 30 years. This rise is as high as 15 cm in some areas of the Pacific. “It is increasingly clear that we are rapidly running out of time to reverse the trend.”warns Celeste Saulo, secretary general of this leading UN agency. “People, economies and ecosystems across the South West Pacific region are being heavily impacted by cascading effects” of climate change, she recalls in the foreword to the report.
“A question of survival”
In some places, including Kiribati and the Cook Islands, sea-level rise measurements are at or below the global average. But elsewhere, including Samoa and Fiji, the rise is three times greater. In Tuvalu, the land area is already so small that children are using the tarmac at the international airport as a playground.
Even with a limited rise in sea levels in the future, experts say Tuvalu could be completely submerged within 30 years. “Disasters follow one another and we lose the ability to rebuild, to resist a new cyclone or a new flood”Tuvaluan Climate Minister Maina Talia told AFP on Monday on the sidelines of the PIF summit. “For low-lying island states, it’s a matter of survival”he added.
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The plight of the Pacific countries may have been overlooked in the past, particularly because of their isolation and lesser economic weight. But the region is seen by researchers as a harbinger of what could happen in other parts of the world. “This new report confirms what Pacific leaders have been saying for years.”Australian climate researcher Wes Morgan told AFP. “Climate change is their greatest security threat. Pacific nations are in a fight for survival, and stopping climate pollution is essential to their future.”he insists.
“On the front line”
The vast majority of people in the South Pacific countries live within five kilometres of the coast, according to the United Nations. By causing land to submerge, rising sea levels are reducing not only living space but also water and food resources for people, the organisation says. Higher water temperatures are also leading to more severe natural disasters, while ocean acidification is affecting the marine food chain.
For expert Rosanne Martyr, from the Climate Analytics Institute based in Berlin, “The price to be paid will inexorably increase if nothing is done urgently”Already, countries like Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Micronesia have lost “more than 1% of their GDP due to rising waters”she says.
The Pacific island nations logically figure “on the front lines of the battle against climate change”recalled PIF Secretary General Baron Waqa of Nauru on Monday at the opening of the forum. Tuvaluan Climate Minister Maina Talia urged “most polluting countries” to financially assume the increasing costs associated with climate change, according to the principle of “polluter pays”The FIP forum, which brings together 18 associated states and territories, including New Caledonia and French Polynesia, is due to be held until Thursday.
