UN General Assembly President Philémon Yang addressed a High-Level Meeting on Sea Level Rise in New York last week, accompanied by yet more strong wordings from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
Yang, who convened the meeting, warned delegates of member states that the situation was ‘critical.’ It is estimated, according to Yang, that sea levels will rise by 20 centimetres between 2020 and 2050, forcibly displacing up to 1.2 billion people, equivalent to almost the entire population of the African continent.
“For those on the front lines,” Yang went on to illustrate, “the impacts of rising seas threaten livelihoods, inflict damage to settlements and critical infrastructure, and can in its most dramatic manifestations force the displacement of entire island populations and coastal communities.”
The Assembly President called for nations to recommit to keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Centigrade of pre-industrial emissions, and to work together to build climate adaptability in coastal areas and greater resiliance to natural disasters.
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The meeting also heard from the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Feleti Teo, who emphasised the ‘existential threat’ posed by sea level rise to small island developing countries, with many at high risk of being completely uninhabitable. He gave examples of flooding increasing soil salinity to reduce crop yields, whilst also leading to saltwater contaminating drinking water aquifers, alongside the impact of a greater intensity of storms and higher tides.
“Our people will be unable to exist on the islands and shore they have called home for generations.” Mr Teo told delegates, “Livelihoods are destroyed, families gradually move, community cohesion is tested, heritage is lost, and eventually the very fabric of our nations become increasingly threatened.” He emphasised that this was not a prediction of the future for small-island states but “the hard realities we experience today.”
Secretary General Antonio Guterres added to the message of urgency with a specific call for everywhere on the planet to be covered by early-warning systems for natural disasters by 2027, in line with UN initiatives. He also reiterated that G20 nations, responsible for around 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions, must take the lead in developing and following economic plans to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, with climate programmes that cover all aspects of each nation’s economy. Guterres also called for significant contributions from wealthy economy’s to the new global Loss and Damage Fund announced in a diplomatic breakthrough at COP28. Increasing pressure on the upcoming climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan in November to deliver, the Secretary General said he hoped for “a strong finance outcome at COP29 this year – including on new and innovative sources of capital.”
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