UN chief calls for action on ‘worldwide catastrophe’ of rising seas
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Pacific Islands Forum the crisis is rising to an ‘almost unimaginable scale’.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has issued a climate SOS to the world to “save our seas.”
The UN and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) issued reports on worsening sea level rises on Monday, accelerated by a warming Earth and melting ice sheets and glaciers.
The reports highlight how the Southwestern Pacific is not only hurt by rising oceans but by other climate change effects of ocean acidification and marine heat waves.
Mr Guterres made his climate plea from Tonga’s capital Nuku’alofa on Tuesday at a meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum, whose member countries are among those most imperiled by climate change.
Next month the United Nations General Assembly holds a special session to discuss rising seas.
“This is a crazy situation,” Mr Guterres said.
“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.”
