"No Practical Hope" To Save Maldives - UCSC Marine Science Director

[hatrack]

EDIT

"More than 100 million people could be affected by a three-foot increase in sea level," said Gary Griggs, director of the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz. "There is no practical hope of saving small island states like the Maldives Islands (in the Indian Ocean)," Griggs told IPS. "This is a hugely important new issue."

The impacts of rising sea levels are already a near and present danger. South Pacific islands like Tonga and Tuvalu have reported sea level rises of 10 centimetres in just the past dozen years, according to the South Pacific Sea Level and Climate Monitoring Project.

Unprecedented tidal flooding in the Solomon Islands last February forced 2,000 people to evacuate. Much of the islands' arable land is now contaminated by salt. Over the past 20 years, the white sandy beaches on some islands have been eroded and washed away by ocean currents, high waves and rising seas levels, reports Loti Yates, director of the National Disaster Management Office of the Solomon Islands. In late March, 3.48-metre record high tides swamped most of Tuvalu, a collection of Pacific Ocean atoll islands where the highest point is 4.5 metres above sea level. Many of the palm-treed beaches have vanished and the higher sea levels make storms more dangerous. Relocation of the country's entire population is being discussed and several hundred have already left.

Some 1,200 kilometres away in Fiji, a group of Pacific islands comprising 18,250 sq kms, sea level has risen by eight centimetres and will be at least another 30 centimeters higher by 2050. Flooding has been an ongoing, multi-million-dollar problem for the last few years. Due to its geography, the entire Asia-Pacific Region is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change such as rising sea levels, more intense storms and greater extremes of droughts and floods, according to a recent report from the World Bank.

EDIT

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32765

[DrDan]

1. this is such a shame

My family and I spent a week diving in the Maldives several years ago - it is a beautiful place. We were on the Lohifushi island.

[Ian David]

2. Republicans who don't believe Global Warming should buy Real Estate there

We can advertise on WorldNet Daily-- right between, "Street-fighting secrets of dark-skinned people" and "Invest in Iraqi currency."

Global Warming is a hoax! Invest in Real Estate in the Maldives now!

Remember: Global Warming is just a theory. Gay Marriage... that's a real threat.