While no one is panicking (yet), UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a new global climate “SOS” at the Pacific Islands Summit on Tuesday, warning for the second time in less than a week that rising sea levels will deal a deadly blow to humanity in the region.
“I am in Tonga to issue a global SOS (save the ocean) against rising sea levels. A global catastrophe is putting this Pacific paradise at risk,” he said after flying to the region. According to AFP News.
The World Meteorological Organization has been monitoring tide gauges along prominent Pacific coastlines since the early 1990s.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends a dinner with Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa (not pictured) at the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum in Apia on August 22, 2024. (MANAUI FAULALO/AFP via Getty Images)
A new report from the United Nations' top climate watchdog has found that sea levels have risen by about 15 centimetres in some parts of the Pacific Ocean over the past 30 years.
“This new report confirms what Pacific leaders have been saying for years,” Australian climate researcher Wes Morgan told AFP, repeating previous warnings of impending doom from Guterres.
“Climate change is their biggest security threat. Pacific nations are fighting for survival and reducing climate pollution is key to their future.”
Pacific nations are urging carbon-emitting countries to cut their emissions.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has delivered his most apocalyptic climate remarks to date, declaring that “the era of planetary boiling has arrived.” https://t.co/xzCvzq5jb4
—Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) July 28, 2023
The issue is expected to be a major topic at this week's summit, with Secretary-General Guterres leading the charge to call for funding to help Pacific countries launch “climate resilience programmes”.
The veteran Portuguese socialist was in the region last week and said last Thursday that some Pacific islands are at risk of “devastation” from rising sea levels, Breitbart News reported.
