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Pacific islands will have to be abandoned to the sea
An eminent Australian scientist says the real problem will come when low-lying, densely populated Asian nations are flooded
While delegates at Copenhagen try to thrash out a deal that will help save the world's low-lying nations from rising sea-levels, one eminent scientist has already written off the Pacific islands.
Former climate change advisor to the Australian government, Ross Garnaut, says it is inevitable that Pacific nations like Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands will end up having their populations relocated to Australia and New Zealand as rising sea-levels wipe out entire countries.
The economics professor says: "It's good to have attention drawn to that dimension of the problem, proportionately they might be more deeply affected than others, but that is actually a small part of the world problem."
Of more concern, he says, is the fate of the densely populated river valleys of Asia. A Bangladeshi state-run think tank claimed today that by 2050, 18 per cent of the country will be submerged by rising sea-levels, displacing 20 million people - equivalent to the population of Australia.
Tuvalu is a group of nine islands 650 miles north of Fiji with a population of just 11,000, its highest point is just four metres above sea-level. Its delegates have already made their voice heard at Copenhagen; they have twice brought proceedings to a halt this week by demanding delegates sign up to a tougher international agreement than the Kyoto protocol.
Their goal is to restrict the rise in temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels - the current target is two degrees. But Danish conference president Connie Hedegaard rejected the suggestion after objections from other nations. Outside the conference chamber various environmental groups staged protests in support of the Tuvaluan proposal.
If states like Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands are forced to abandon their land Garnaud says other nations will step in. "We're likely to accommodate that so there's a solution there," he says.
Whether they will be so welcoming towards 20 million poorly-educated Bangladeshis is another matter. ·
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No, Peter Simmons - can't you read? Where in this article does it mention ACTUAL flooding in ACTUAL reality? This article is NOT about "actual floods in actual reality", it is about projections by spin doctors - are you so detached from reality that you can't tell the difference? That's the trouble with you climate alarmists, you think that a fallible projection based on dodgy science with added spin is reality, whilst ignoring the REALITY itself. Sea level has been rising for hundreds of years - nothing whatsoever to do with anthropogenic 'climate change' or such like. Surprisingly, sea level stopped rising a few years ago; nobody knows why- maybe it's just taking a nap. The usual poster boy, the Maldives, with its stuntman president, is in no imminent danger of flooding at all - sea levels have been declining there since the 1970s. This is well attested by scientific studies, but an inconvenient truth to the climate alarmists and the island states who want loads of free handouts. As for Tuvalu and some other Pacific islands, they are becoming more inundated because the ground is actually sinking - like it is in Venice and in East Anglia in UK. That's a geological phenomenon, not 'climate change'. Bangladesh is not losing its land to the sea - it is expanding its territory due to the deposition of rich, fertile silt that is being carried down the rivers.
Don't find the climate change sceptics posting their idiot ravings about global conspiracies here, wonder why. Can't handle actual floods in actual reality I suppose.