Scientists say millions could flee rising seas
Pastor Dale Morgan
Scientists say millions could flee rising seas*
Nov 13, 2006 4:25 PM GMT136
By Daniel Wallis
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Nations must make plans to help tens of millions of
"sea level refugees" if climate change continues to ravage the world's
oceans, German researchers said on Thursday.
Waters are rising and warming, increasing the destructive power of
storms, they said, and seas are becoming more acidic, threatening to
throw entire food chains into chaos.
"In the long run, sea level rises are going to be the most severe impact
of global warming on human society," said Professor Stefan Rahmstorf,
presenting a report by German scientists at a major United Nations
climate change meeting.
Warming could melt ice sheets and raise water levels, and the report
said nations should already be considering making a "managed retreat"
from the most endangered areas, including low-lying island states, parts
of Bangladesh or even the U.S. state of Florida.
A report by international scientists who advise the U.N. has predicted a
sea level rise of up to 88 cm between 1990 and 2100.
The situation was worsened, the German team said on Thursday, by the
increasing frequency of extreme storms whipped up by warming sea surface
temperatures -- meaning many would flee coastal areas hit by hurricanes.
Many of the world's biggest cities, from Tokyo to Buenos Aires, are by
the coast. Some rich nations might be able to build ever higher dikes,
such as in the Netherlands, but poor nations were destined to be swamped.
The low-lying Pacific island nation of Tuvalu has already agreed a deal
for New Zealand to take about half its 10,000 people to work in
agriculture if it becomes swamped by rising sea levels.
HURRICANE ENERGY
Rahmstorf said their data did not conclusively prove warmer seas created
more storms, but that there was a clear link between rising temperatures
and hurricanes' power.
"Since 1980 we've seen a strong rise up to unprecedented levels of
hurricane energy now in the Atlantic," he said.
Some 189 nations are meeting in Kenya to explore options for a global
deal to combat climate change, with most focusing on cutting the amount
of carbon dioxide pumped into the air by industry and modern lifestyles.
The report's authors, the German Advisory Council on Global Change, said
about a third of that CO2 was being absorbed by the world's oceans,
making them more acidic.
If not checked, it said, that would have profound effects on marine
organisms -- hindering everything from tiny shrimps to lobsters from
forming their calcite shells -- with disastrous results for ocean food
chains, and on human communities depending on sea life to survive.
Coral reefs that attract fish and protect coasts from storms and erosion
are also threatened by acidity, and CO2 emissions meant they could all
be dead by 2065, Rahmstorf said.
"Acidity is causing a major threat to coral reefs, on top of the
bleaching effect that comes with warming," he said.
Reefs get bleached when warm water forces out tiny algae living in them,
giving reefs nutrients and their vivid colors. Without algae, corals
whiten and eventually die.