The UN unveiled this Tuesday at the summit of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) research on the rise in water levels in the Pacific which shows a rise faster than the global average. The Overseas Territories are affected with Wallis or the Tuamotus in Polynesia. Elsewhere on the planet, territories such as Miquelon or the Antilles are also affected.
“I am in Tonga to issue a global SOS — Save our Seas — on rising sea levels. A global catastrophe is putting this Pacific paradise in jeopardy.“This was declared by Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General, on Tuesday at the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) summit.
The sparsely populated and poorly industrialized Pacific Islands collectively emit less than 0.02% of global annual greenhouse gas emissions.
But this vast group of volcanic islands and low-lying coral atolls is being hit hard by the effects of global warming, particularly through rising water levels.
According to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) presented at the Forum, sea levels have risen by an average of 9.4 cm globally over the past 30 years. This rise is as high as 15 cm in some areas of the Pacific.
“It is increasingly clear that we are rapidly running out of time to reverse the trend.“, warns Celeste Saulo, secretary general of this leading UN agency.
“People, economies and ecosystems across the South West Pacific region are being heavily impacted by cascading effects“climate change,” she recalls in the foreword to the report.
In Tuvalu, the land area is already so small that children use the tarmac at the international airport as a playground. An agreement has already been reached with Australia so that residents can find refuge there if their nation were to disappear.
In the Pacific Overseas Territories, situations are more or less urgent. In Wallis, rockfill work is progressing on certain parts of the island, but the population remains worried about the inexorable rise in water levels and the erosion of the coastline.
In French Polynesia, the Tuamotu Islands are particularly exposed. Beaches have disappeared, giving way to gravel, and vegetation has been eaten away by the sea. A column was also published in The World early 2023 to call on politicians to take urgent decisions to save this archipelago.
The plight of the Pacific countries may have been overlooked in the past, particularly because of their isolation and lesser economic weight. But the region is seen by researchers as a harbinger of what could happen in other parts of the world.
The French overseas territories of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans are thus concerned. By 2050, the retreat of the coastline of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyana, Reunion and Mayotte could render more than a thousand homes uninhabitable, according to projections by Cerema (Centre for Studies and Expertise on Risks, the Environment, Mobility and Development) published in April 2024.
In detail, Guadeloupe would be the French overseas department most affected by coastal erosion, with 552 homes becoming uninhabitable. Martinique would also be affected, with 284 homes threatened. To a lesser extent, the inhabitants of Guyana (167 homes), Mayotte (109) and Reunion (78) will also suffer from the retreat of the coastline.
In the Caribbean, the island of Gardi Sugdub, which is part of Panama, is one of the first to be affected by rising waters.
In Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, the village of Miquelon, threatened by rising waters, must be relocated in the coming years. An unprecedented relocation in France that will make the inhabitants of Miquelon the first climate refugees in the country. Unless an acceleration of erosion in the Pacific first affects the Tuamotus.
By causing land to be submerged, rising sea levels not only reduce living space but also water and food resources for populations, the United Nations points out.
Higher water temperatures also lead to more violent natural disasters, while ocean acidification affects the marine food chain.
The Pacific island nations logically figure “on the front lines of the battle against climate change“, recalled the secretary general of the FIP, Baron Waqa, from the island of Nauru, at the opening of the forum on Monday.
Tuvaluan Climate Minister Maina Talia urged the “most polluting countries“to financially assume the increasing costs linked to climate change, according to the “polluter pays” principle.
The FIP forum, which brings together 18 associated states and territories, including New Caledonia and French Polynesia, is due to be held until Thursday.
