Global SOS: Pacific Ocean Rising 3 Times More Than Global Averages

News Desk

Nuku’alofa: The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) research reveals that sea levels have risen by approximately 15 cm in some parts of the Pacific over the last 30 years, which is significantly higher than the global average rise of 9.4 cm.

WMO has been monitoring tide gauges across the Pacific since the early 1990s.

WMO Secretary General Celeste Saulo said that it is increasingly evident that we are fast running out of time to turn the tide.

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres delivered a global climate ‘SOS’—Save Our Seas—at a Pacific Islands summit on Tuesday, stating that a worldwide catastrophe is putting this Pacific paradise in peril.

Despite contributing less than 0.02 per cent of global emissions annually, the Pacific islands are facing severe threats from rapidly rising oceans. These islands, spanning a vast area of volcanic lands and low-lying coral atolls, are particularly vulnerable to the encroaching seas.

The research highlighted disparities in sea-level rise across the region. While some areas, like Kiribati and the Cook Islands, experienced rises close to the global average, other regions, including the capitals of Samoa and Fiji, saw sea levels rise almost three times higher.

Tuvalu’s Existential Crisis

In the low-lying nation of Tuvalu, land scarcity is so severe that children are using the tarmac of the international airport as a makeshift playground. Scientists have warned that Tuvalu could be almost entirely submerged within the next 30 years under moderate climate scenarios.

Tuvalu Climate Minister Maina Talia said, “It’s disaster after disaster, and we are losing the capacity to rebuild, to withstand another cyclone or another flood.”

The plight of Pacific islands has often been overlooked due to their isolation and limited economic power. However, the region is increasingly being recognised as a “climate canary in the coal mine”, signalling potential threats to other parts of the world.

This new report confirms what Pacific leaders have been saying for years, stated Australian Climate Researcher Wes Morgan. Climate change is their top security threat. Pacific nations are in a fight for survival, and cutting climate pollution is key to their future, added Morgan.

The South Pacific, with its population concentrated within five km of the coast, is uniquely threatened by rising sea levels. The region faces significant challenges, including land loss, contamination of food and water sources, more intense natural disasters fuelled by warmer waters, and the degradation of coral reefs that sustain marine life.

Pacific nations are calling on major carbon-emitting countries to reduce emissions and fund climate resilience programs. The issue of loss and damage finance is expected to be a central topic in summit discussions throughout the week.

Climate Analytics Policy Institute Senior Scientist Rosanne Martyr warned that the need for loss and damage finance is here today and costs will only rise without urgent climate action now.

In 2020, some Pacific Island nations, including Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and Micronesia, lost more than one per cent of their GDP to rising seas.