In the Pacific Island Nations, Guterres Warns of Catastrophic Sea Level Rise

The world received yet another climate emergency alert from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who noted that sea levels are rising more quickly, particularly in the considerably more vulnerable Pacific island nations.

This second time, he explained that the initials meant “save our seas.”

On Monday, the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations released papers detailing the deteriorating sea level rise that is being accelerated by Earth’s warming and the melting of ice sheets and glaciers.

They emphasize how additional climate change effects, such as ocean acidification and marine heat waves, are harming the southwestern Pacific in addition to rising water levels.

During a tour of Samoa and Tonga, Guterres made his case for climate change on Tuesday at a summit of the Pacific Islands Forum, whose member nations are among the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. He spoke from Nuku’alofa, the capital of Tonga.

The topic of rising oceans will be discussed at a special session of the UN General Assembly next month.

“This is absurd,” Guterres declared. The crisis of rising seas is solely human-caused. A crisis without a lifeboat to return us to safety that will soon reach almost unfathomable proportions.

“This paradise in the Pacific is in danger due to a global catastrophe,” he stated. “There’s so much water in it.”