UN chief warns 'the ocean is overflowing' as Pacific sea-level rise surpasses global average
The United Nations chief has warned of the peril faced by islands in the Pacific Ocean, as sea levels have risen almost twice the global average in the past 30 years.
Making a speech from the island nation of Tonga, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a 'Save our Seas' plea for the world to increase support for countries endangered by the climate crisis.
"The ocean is overflowing," Guterres said. “This is a crazy situation: Rising seas are a crisis entirely of humanity’s making.
"A crisis that will soon swell to an almost unimaginable scale, with no lifeboat to take us back to safety."
The Pacific Islands are being hit harder than most, suffering a triple blow of ocean heating, sea level rise and acidification.
The effects are harming ecosystems, damaging crops, contaminating fresh water sources, and destroying livelihoods.
Worsening floods and tropical storms are already devastating the islands. The report said that in 2023, 34 mostly storm or flood-related "hydrometeorological hazard events" led to more than 200 deaths and affected 25 million people in the region.
Sea surface temperatures in the Southwest Pacific have risen three times faster than the global average since 1980, according to the World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate report.
It also found marine heat waves have doubled in frequency and become more intense and longer lasting.
The ocean is “undergoing changes which will be irreversible for centuries to come,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.
"Human activities have weakened the capacity of the ocean to sustain and protect us and – through sea level rise – are transforming a lifelong friend into a growing threat."
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In a second report published Tuesday, the UN’s climate action team said the climate crisis and sea level rise "are no longer distant threats," especially for the Pacific.
If the world continues its path of heating to 3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the Pacific Islands can expect to see at least another 15 centimeters of additional sea level rise by 2050 and more than 30 days of coastal flooding per year, the report found.
"This is a region with an average elevation just 1 to 2 meters above sea level, where around 90% of people live within 5 kilometers of the coast, and where half the infrastructure is within 500 meters of the sea," Guterres said.
Both reports call on global leaders to improve early warning systems for vulnerable communities, majorly increase funding for resilience and adaptation, and make emission cuts to keep global heating to within 1.5 degrees Celsius.
"Surging seas are coming for us all," Guterres said."The world must look to the Pacific and listen to science… if we save the Pacific, we also save ourselves."
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