The current rate of sea level rise will mean that between 250 and 400 million people will need “new homes, in new places” in less than 80 years, the President of the United Nations General Assembly warned today.
In an open ministerial-level debate on sea level rise and its implications for international peace and security, Csaba Korosi cited data from the World Climate Research Program at the United Nations (UN) Security Council showing a sea level rise of 1 to 1.6 meters in 2100. Korosi stressed that the displacement of hundreds of millions of people associated with this increase will pose a risk to international security.
Csaba Korosi also raised issues of territorial sovereignty, indicating that sea level rise due to climate change is also creating new legal issues at the heart of national identity.
“What happens to the sovereignty of a nation, or a member of the UN, if it sinks into the sea? There are rules about the creation of states, but none about their physical destruction. Who takes care of displaced populations? Or how the first changes in Would coastlines affect maritime borders? And how would that affect exclusive economic zones?” asked the president of the UN General Assembly.
“With much of the world’s agriculture concentrated on coastal plains and low-lying islands, rising sea levels also raise long-term questions about humanity’s survival.”noted the Hungarian diplomat.
While Korosi noted that the International Law Commission and the Sixth Committee of the General Assembly have taken a proactive stance in considering these issues for urgent debate, he called for more climate action.
“We know the risks and we see the uncertainties and instability that we will face. And we have no doubt that this will open the doors to conflict and dispute, endangering world peace and security. And where this door open is, this Council has a responsibility to act”he also said in an address to the UN Security Council, which is responsible for ensuring international peace and security.
It is critical to invest in prevention today rather than addressing the implications of food shortages or migration tomorrow, Korosi added.
“We already have enough crises to deal with. (…) I implore the Council to assume its role in this collective effort. If not, I fear that by 2050 the UN General Assembly will be less than will represent 193 Member States”he concluded, referring to a possible disappearance of states due to rising sea levels.
Tuesday’s meeting, chaired by Malta’s foreign minister Ian Borg, also included a ‘briefing’ by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who said the “rising seas are a sinking future”, and stressed that sea level rise is a multiplier of threats.
Citing data from the World Meteorological Organization, Guterres claimed that global mean sea levels have risen faster since 1900 than at any previous century in the past 3,000 years. In addition, the ocean as a whole has warmed faster in the past century than at any other time in the past 11,000 years, he said.
According to the former Portuguese prime minister, the danger is particularly acute for the nearly 900 million people living in coastal areas: “one in ten people” in the world.
“The consequences of all this are unimaginable. Low-lying communities and entire countries could vanish forever. We would see a biblical-scale mass exodus of entire populations, and we would see increasingly fierce competition for fresh water, land, and other resources. “predicted António Guterres, indicating that rising sea levels are already creating new sources of instability and conflict.
Sea level rise and other climate effects are already forcing displacement in places like Fiji, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, according to the UN.
Malta, which presides over the UN Security Council this month, said the aim of this open debate is to explore how the body can address sea-level rise risks in the architecture of global security and invest in preventive mechanisms.
Source: DN
