As the rising Pacific Ocean laps at their doorsteps, tiny Tuvalu (left pic) (a speck of nine islands with 10,000 inhabitants) and Kiribati (a nation of 33 coral atolls straddling the Equator and of 105,00 people) fear becoming environmental refugees. It will be a new type of refugees in the Asia-Pacific region as sea level could rise up to 50 cm (19.7 inches) by 2070. Kiribati, Tuvalu, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and parts of Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu are considered at greatest risk. A a sea level rise of 30-50 cm would affect hundreds of millions of people across the Asia-Pacific region, slashing economic output, inundating large areas of Bangladesh, India and Vietnam and reducing Kiribati, Fiji and the Maldives to a small fraction of their current land area. A climate change report by Australia's leading scientific research body released two weeks ago found that Micronesia had experienced an annual sea level rise of 21.4 mm since 2001.
Calls have been made to Australia, which is not a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol to cut greenhouse gases, to do more to combat climate change and to be more open to environmental refugees.
Tags: Environmental, Sea Level, Greenhouse, Climate, Kyoto Protocol, Micronesia, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Pacific Ocean, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Fiji, Maldives, Asia Pacific, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, Australia
1 comment:
I can see that You care and that is the most important thing, but You say nothing about You self??
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