UN: Rising sea levels could trigger ‘biblical’ exodus – 02/14/2023 – Environment

The Secretary-General of the United Nations (United Nations), António Guterres, warned, this Tuesday (14), of the risk of an exodus “of biblical proportions” due to the rise in sea levels caused by global warming, and called for “the gaps to be filled” in international law, especially in relation to refugees.

“The danger is particularly acute for the nearly 900 million people who live in low-lying coastal areas, one in every 10 people on Earth,” Guterres stressed before the Security Council.

“Communities living in low-lying areas and entire countries could disappear forever. We would be witnessing a massive exodus of entire populations of biblical proportions,” he added.

Some small, sparsely populated island states are in danger of disappearing altogether. But the impact of rising sea levels, caused by melting glaciers, the expansion of the oceans by higher temperatures and, now, mainly by melting polar ice caps, goes much further.

“Whatever the scenario, countries like Bangladesh, China, India and the Netherlands are all at risk,” warned Guterres.

“Megacities on all continents will suffer severe impacts, such as Cairo, Lagos, Maputo, Bangkok, Dhaka, Jakarta, Mumbai, Shanghai, Copenhagen, London, Los Angeles, New York, Buenos Aires and Santiago”, he detailed.

According to experts from the UN panel on climate change (IPCC), sea levels rose by 15 cm to 25 cm between 1900 and 2018. And a rise of 43 cm is expected by 2100, if the planet experiences a 2°C rise in temperature compared to the pre-industrial era.

Furthermore, the elevation could reach 84 cm if the planet warms by 3°C or 4°C by the end of the century.
The rise in sea levels, in addition to submerging certain areas, is accompanied by an increase in storms and floods in coastal regions.

In this context of populations that will be forced to seek exile, Guterres asked that “the voids be filled in the existing legal frameworks” at a global level.

“This must include refugee law,” he insisted. And solutions should also be presented for the future of States that will completely lose their terrestrial territory.

The Secretary-General also considered that the UN Security Council has “an essential role to play” in “addressing the devastating security challenges that rising water levels present”.

This is a controversial topic within the body.

For example, in 2021, Russia vetoed a resolution that established a generic link between global warming and world security, a text supported by a majority of Council members.