Climate change: Small island states could disappear during this century | By rising sea level

Dozens of small island states, particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, called on the world to act to preserve their future, following the publication on Monday of the UN expert report describing a gloomy outlook if global warming is not stopped.

In this study, it is estimated that the scenario may be catastrophic in the Pacific, due to the estimated rise in sea level, which it could lead to the possible loss of entire countries this century.

Research by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that the human beings are “unquestionably” responsible for climate change and he warned that there is no other option but to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions because global warming is progressing faster than expected.

Further, they noted that “there is a strong confidence that sea level rise will lead to a greater possibility of extreme coastal water levels in most areas, assuming all other factors are equal “.

“We need to reverse this trend,” Diann Black-Layne, chief climate negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and Antigua and Barbuda’s ambassador to the UN, said in a statement. published Monday evening.

And he stressed: “The point is that if we limit the warming to 1.5 ° C, we risk a sea level rise of half a meter. But if we prevent the warming from reaching 2 ° C, we can prevent a sea level rise of three meters in the long term. Our future is at stake “.

AOSIS brings together 39 states from all over the world, including Cuba, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Maldives or East Timor. These countries insist on the need to adopt radical measures to limit warming to 1.5 ° C, as provided for in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The IPCC report revealed that the world will reach this level in 2030, that is to say 10 years earlier than predicted in the calculations made in 2018. Even by limiting the warming to +1.5 ° C, the waves heat, floods and other extreme events will increase in an “unprecedented” manner in both their magnitude, frequency, location or time of year they occur.

In turn, the Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum, Henry Puna, noted that, according to the IPCC forecast, the level of the oceans will rise due to global warming of 2 meters by 2100 and 5 meters by 2150.

“The report also found that extreme sea level events that previously occurred once every 100 years could occur every year by the end of this century. It will result in the loss of millions of lives, homes and livelihoods in the Pacific and around the world, ”he told Australian broadcaster ABC.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels and deforestation are “choking” the planet, for which he warned “There is no time to wait, no room for apologies.”

“Global warming is beyond anything we thought were estimates. It presents some of the catastrophic scenarios we have been thinking about in the Pacific, of sea level rise, loss of lowlands and possible loss of entire countries to the Pacific. over the century, “Fiji said. the ambassador to the UN, Satyendra Prasad, according to The Guardian.

For his part, the country’s Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, posted on his Twitter account that the report “places the Pacific island nations at 0.4 degrees Celsius of a existential catastrophe “. And he concluded: “We need a dramatic reduction in emissions by 2030. No emissions by 2050. No excuse.