António Guterres, Secretary General of the UN, has warned that the rise in sea level poses an existential threat to many communities and can trigger a “mass exodus” with “biblical proportions”. The United Nations Security Council met on Tuesday to discuss the consequences of rising sea levels in the field of peace and security.
According to the UN Secretary General, rising sea levels could mean low-lying communities and entire countries disappear forever. This is the case in Bangladesh, China, India and the Netherlands. The consequences can also affect megacities on all continents including Cairo, Lagos, Maputo, Bangkok, Dhaka, Jakarta, Mumbai, Shanghai, Copenhagen, London, Los Angeles, New York, Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile.
For Guterres, the rise in waters -accelerated by the climate crisis- is both a problem in itself and a “multiplier” of other threats and is already creating “new sources of instability and conflict”.
The indirect consequences of rising seas endanger access to water, food and medical care, as stressed by the UN Secretary General. And he added that “saltwater ingress can decimate jobs and entire economies in key industries such as agriculture, fishing and tourism.”
The leader has explained that if the most alarming projections made by scientific organizations come true, the phenomenon could pose an existential problem for some communities and countries.
“The danger is especially serious for the almost 900 million people who live in low-lying coastal areas, that is, one in ten people on Earth,” according to Guterres.
For all these reasons, the Portuguese diplomat has asked the international community for determined actions in three main areas: the fight against global warming, the protection of vulnerable communities and the modification of international legislation to protect the displaced.
