The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has said that big polluters have a clear responsibility to cut emissions – or risk a worldwide catastrophe.
“The Pacific is today the most vulnerable area of the world,” he told the BBC at the Pacific Island Forum Leaders Meeting in Tonga. “There is an enormous injustice in relation to the Pacific and it’s the reason I am here.”
“The small islands don’t contribute to climate change but everything that happens because of climate change is multiplied here.”
But eventually the “surging seas are coming for us all,” he warned in a speech at the forum, as the UN releases two separate reports on rising sea levels and how they threaten Pacific island nations.
The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in the South West Pacific report says this region faces a triple whammy of an accelerating rise in the sea level, a warming of the ocean and acidification – a rise in the sea’s acidity because it’s absorbing more and more carbon dioxide.
“The reason is clear: greenhouse gases – overwhelmingly generated by burning fossil fuels – are cooking our planet,” Mr Guterres said in a speech at the forum.
“The sea is taking the heat – literally.”
This year’s theme – transformative resilience – was tested on the opening day when the new auditorium was deluged by heavy rains and buildings evacuated because of an earthquake.
“It’s such a stark reminder of how volatile things are within our region, and how important it is that we need to prepare for everything,” Joseph Sikulu, Pacific director at 350, a climate change advocacy group, told the BBC.
Not far from the venue was a street parade, with dancers representing the region, including Torres Strait islanders, Tongans and Samoans. At the start of the parade, a big banner reads, “We are not drowning, we are fighting”. Another says: “Sea levels are rising – so are we”.
It echoes a challenge that threatens to wipe out their world – the UN Climate Action Team released a report called “Surging Seas in a Warming World” showing that global average sea levels are rising at rates unprecedented in the past 3,000 years.
(BBC News)
