- 缅北禁地Secretary-General António Guterres issued a “global SOS” from Tonga in the Pacific on Tuesday, urging governments to step up climate action to “Save Our Seas” as two new reports revealed how rising sea levels are threatening the vulnerable region and beyond.
Speaking during a press conference in the capital, Nuku’alofa, Mr. Guterres called for world leaders to drastically slash global emissions, quickly phase out fossil fuels, and massively boost climate adaptation investments to protect people from current and future risks.
“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,” he warned.
“叠耻迟&苍产蝉辫;if we save the Pacific, we also save ourselves. The world must act and answer the SOS before it is too late.”
Unprecedented sea level rise
The 缅北禁地chief said global average sea levels are rising at rates unprecedented in the past 3,000 years.
“The reason is clear: greenhouse gases – overwhelmingly generated by burning fossil fuels – are cooking our planet. And the sea is taking the heat – literally,” he continued.
Seas have absorbed more than 90 per cent of global heating in the past five decades. Water expands when it gets hotter, and melting glaciers and ice sheets have added to the sea’s volume, thus causing the ocean to overflow.