"Micro Feature·Ecology and Environment" report: The rate of sea level rise and warming in the southwest Pacific exceeds the global average
2024-08-27
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[Xinhua News Agency Micro Feature] According to a report by the World Meteorological Organization on the 27th, in recent decades, the sea level rise and sea surface temperature increase in the southwest Pacific have been higher than the global average, and extreme weather events have increased significantly. In response, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the international community to step up efforts to combat climate change.
The report, titled "State of the Southwest Pacific Climate in 2023," was jointly released by Guterres and WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo at the Pacific Islands Forum held in Tonga, an island nation in the South Pacific. Guterres said that the average global sea level is rising at an unprecedented rate, and many island countries in the southwest Pacific are particularly affected.
Experts explain that greenhouse gas emissions have intensified the trend of global warming, causing large amounts of ice sheets to melt faster, while ocean warming has caused water molecules to expand. These factors have all led to an accelerated rise in sea levels.
In the report, Guterres said that the average altitude of Pacific island countries is only one or two meters above sea level, 90% of their population lives within 5 kilometers of the coastline, and half of their infrastructure is no more than 500 meters from the coast.
The report points out that between 1993 and 2023, the global sea level rose by an average of about 3.4 mm per year, while the sea level rise in some areas of the southwest Pacific was more than twice that value during the same period. Rising sea levels have led to more frequent and severe storm surges and coastal flooding.
The report also shows that between 1981 and 2023, the ocean surface in almost the entire southwest Pacific region has been warming, with northeastern New Zealand and southern Australia warming by an average of more than 0.4 degrees Celsius every decade, while the global ocean surface temperature has risen by about 0.15 degrees Celsius every decade.
Guterres said rising sea levels will "devastate fisheries, tourism and the blue economy. Globally, about 1 billion people live in coastal areas threatened by rising sea levels. However, while some sea level rise is inevitable, its scale, speed and impacts are not. That depends on the decisions we make."
At the forum, he once again called on all countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and step up efforts to combat climate change. (End) (Wang Xinfang)
