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  • Rising seas threaten ‘mass exodus on a biblical scale’, UN chief warns

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    António Guterres calls for urgent action as climate-driven rise brings ‘torrent of trouble’ to almost a billion people

     

    An increase in the pace at which sea levels are rising threatens “a mass exodus of entire populations on a biblical scale”, the UN secretary general has warned.

     

    The climate crisis is causing sea levels to rise faster than for 3,000 years, bringing a “torrent of trouble” to almost a billion people, from London to Los Angeles and Bangkok to Buenos Aires, António Guterres said on Tuesday. Some nations could cease to exist, drowned under the waves, he said.

     

    Addressing the UN security council, Guterres said slashing carbon emissions, addressing problems such as poverty that worsen the impact of the rising seas on communities and developing new international laws to protect those made homeless – and even stateless – were all needed. He said sea level rise was a threat-multiplier which, by damaging lives, economies and infrastructure, had “dramatic implications” for global peace and security.

     

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    A flooded residential area in Sindh, Pakistan, last month. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

     

    Significant sea level rise is already inevitable with current levels of global heating, but the consequences of failing to tackle the problem are “unthinkable”. Guterres said: “Low-lying communities and entire countries could disappear for ever. We would witness a mass exodus of entire populations on a biblical scale. And we would see ever fiercer competition for fresh water, land and other resources.

     

    “People’s human rights do not disappear because their homes do,” he said. “Yes, this means international refugee law.”

     

    The International Law Commission is assessing the legal situation. In 2020, the UN human rights committee ruled that it was unlawful for governments to return people to countries where their lives might be threatened by the climate crisis.

     

    A new compilation of data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) shows that sea levels are rising fast and the global ocean has warmed faster over the past century than at any time in the past 11,000 years. Sea levels rise as warmer water expands and ice caps and glaciers melt.

     

    Prof Petteri Taalas, WMO secretary general, said: “Sea level rise imposes risks to economies, livelihoods, settlements, health, wellbeing, food and water security and cultural values in the near to long term.”

     

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    Floods in Makassar City, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, on Monday. Photograph: Moh Niaz Sharief/Zuma Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock

     

    Guterres said: “Even if global heating is miraculously limited to 1.5C, there will still be a sizeable sea level rise.” A sea level rise of about 50cm by 2100 is likely, but the WMO said there would be a 2-3 metre rise over the next 2,000 years if heating were limited to 1.5C, and 2-6m if it were limited to 2C. A UN report in October said there was “no credible pathway to 1.5C in place”. Current national targets, if met, would mean a 2.4C rise in temperature.

     

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    why are banks still lending money for homes that are "under threat" i can assure you that the banks would not lend money for any home that would soon be under water. Also why are all of these hi profile global warming billionaires buying waterfront properties if they are so worried about the rising water? Around 20,000 years ago there was an ice age at the end of that ice age sea levels rose by nearly 400 meters and it wasn't caused by fossil fuels(obviously). Are we poisoning the world yes we are! are we causing sea levels to rise hell no! When they first started talking about this coastlines were going to be 1 meter higher it is exactly the same level. This is all a con, while the people responsible for this con tell us how bad we are for having fossil fuel vehicles they fly around in private jets, and they don't even jet pool they all fly in on their own jets. There is one major cause of global warming and who would have guessed it would be the sun. When we have poisoned this world past a point, mother nature will wipe 99% of people off the face of the earth and begin to heal 

     

    The billionaires that run this world are the cause of the environmental problems, they chose to use plastics instead of glass and we had no choice but to buy it, we had no say in how they choose to run this world, their plastics their chemicals and poisons we never stood a chance against these greedy selfish self centered psychopaths, why do you think they spend so much money on trying to leave this earth and colonize the moon and mars, because when they have taken everything they can from here and fucked this earth up they will just leave and go somewhere else WITHOUT us.

     

     

     

     

     

     

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