United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that rising sea levels are creating a “malicious tide” that threatens the lives of hundreds of millions of people globally.
Speaking on September 25 at the Summit on the Threats Posed by Rising Sea Levels, Guterres emphasized: “About 900 million people live in low-lying coastal areas. Rising sea levels mean higher tides, increasing the risk of severe storms, coastal erosion, and flooding.”
United Nations warns that rising sea levels are causing a “malicious tide” – (Illustrative image: REUTERS)
The Secretary-General warned of serious consequences such as communities being submerged, contaminated freshwater sources, destroyed crops and infrastructure, declining biodiversity, and devastated economies. Industries such as fisheries, agriculture, and tourism will suffer the most severe impacts.
Guterres called for stronger political will to prevent climate change from becoming “a hell on Earth.” The primary cause of this issue is greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, which warms the planet, causing seawater to expand and ice to melt.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), five island nations—Maldives, Tuvalu, Marshall Islands, Nauru, and Kiribati—could become uninhabitable by the year 2100, resulting in 600,000 stateless climate refugees.
Since the early 20th century, the global average sea level has risen faster than in any century in at least the past 3,000 years, and the rate of increase is accelerating.
