< /p> “Death sentence” issued to parts of coastal cities around the world. Soon, from a geological point of view, they may completely disappear from the map of the Earth due to the consequences of climate change, including warming and rising sea levels. We are talking about popular resort cities in tropical Thailand, Bangladesh, the Netherlands, as well as the British capital, Chinese Shanghai and some others.
Strikingly, this is the first time that a debate on sea level rise has taken place in the UN Security Council. According to a report by UN Secretary General António Guterres, based on recent research by scientists, to such countries, if the level of the world ocean continues to rise, the coastal regions of several countries and small island states will irrevocably disappear under water. At the same time, others are threatened by a massive loss of landmass. This means millions of people will lose their places of residence and tourists their travel destinations.
First of all, we are talking about countries such as Thailand, Bangladesh and the Netherlands – they are threatened with a devastating loss of land. Let's list the top 10 major cities, which, following the pessimistic conclusion of experts, will be completely or partially under water in the near future:
- Bangkok is the capital and largest city of Thailand with population of 5.6 million people. Will go under water not only because of rising sea levels, but also because of the huge weight of buildings pressing on what is, in fact, a swamp.
- Shanghai– the cultural capital and major seaport of China (27.5 million people). The city will go under water due to rising sea levels and the enormous weight of buildings.
- Mumbai is a popular city in western India, located on the coast of the Arabian Peninsula (17 million people).< /li>
- Jakarta is the capital, largest city of Indonesia and a popular sightseeing destination among tourists (10.5 million people).
- Los Angeles is one of the most vibrant cities in the US (3.8 million people).
- New York is the largest city in the US (8.5 million people).
- London– the British capital and a haven for Russian oligarchs (9 million people).
- Buenos Aires – the capital of Argentina and a popular destination for “ancestral tourism” of Russian women (17.1 million people) .
- Lagos is a major port city in the southwest of Nigeria and one of the centers of business tourism in Africa (13.5 million people).
- Mozambiqueis a state in Southeast Africa whose tourism assets include the country's environment, wildlife and cultural heritage. Travelers are provided with opportunities for beach, cultural and eco-tourism.
Speaking of Bangkok and Shanghai, Guterres said: “We see similar threats in the Mekong Delta and beyond. The consequences of all this are inconceivable. Low-lying coastal regions and entire countries could disappear forever. We would have witnessed a mass exodus of the entire population on a biblical scale.”
It is no coincidence that the alarm signal for tourism sounds stronger every year. Data released by Al Jazeera showed that sea level rise has accelerated since 1900, the planet is warming and glaciers and ice sheets are melting in Antarctica and Greenland. According to NASA, all this has resulted in Antarctica dumping an average of about 150 billion tons of ice mass per year, and the Greenland ice cap is shrinking even faster, losing 270 billion tons per year.
“The danger is especially acute for almost 900 million people living in coastal zones at low altitudes – this is one in ten people on Earth … Over the past century, the world's oceans have warmed faster than at any time in the last 11 thousand years. Our world is rapidly passing the 1.5-degree warming limit that a livable future requires, and, with current policies, is approaching 2.8 degrees – a death sentence for vulnerable countries,” Guterres warned.
What will save or at least delay the catastrophe? According to the UN Secretary General, countries at risk must have the resources to adapt to a rapidly changing world. However, many of them are not able to provide themselves with everything they need, so the UN started talking about the need to make a commitment to support the global climate and allocate $100 billion for developing countries.
Over time, the struggle for water and land is inevitable, the head of the UN drew attention and gave examples of communities and countries stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Himalaya river basins. Melting ice in the Himalayas has already exacerbated flooding in Pakistan, he said. But as the Himalayan glaciers retreat in the coming decades, the legendary rivers Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra will first become shallow and then completely dry. Hundreds of millions of people living in the Himalayan basins will suffer from the effects of both sea level rise and salt water intrusion.
As sea level rise creates new arenas for conflict and competition for freshwater and land sources intensifies , the Secretary General said that the climate crisis must be addressed at its root cause: reducing emissions. Development is not a solution to a problem. The cause of the problems is the development of mankind and cities.
Representatives from 75 countries were heard at the meeting of the Security Council, all of them expressed concern about the consequences of rising water levels in the world.
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