Islanders in the western Pacific are particularly at risk from three impacts of human-induced climate change: rising sea levels, global warming and ocean acidification.
According to the World Weather Organization (WMO), they are hit harder by the impacts of climate change than many other regions in the world, even though their own contribution to climate-damaging greenhouse gases is minimal.
Sea levels have risen by 10 to 15 centimetres (4 to 6 inches) in parts of the region since 1993, almost twice the global average, according to the WMO’s Western Pacific Climate Status Report for 2023. The region includes parts of Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, as well as Pacific island nations such as Fiji, Vanuatu and Tonga.
Fishing grounds and coral reefs are under threat
Since then, marine heat waves have become twice as frequent as the long-term average, more intense and longer lasting. This threatens fishing grounds and coral reefs and promotes the growth of toxic algae.
In addition, the pH of the oceans is dropping in many places – in other words, they are becoming more acidic because they absorb more climate-damaging CO2. This can destroy coral reefs that protect coastlines from erosion and also affect fish stocks.
According to measurements from the Aloha station in Hawaii, acidification has increased by more than twelve percent between 1988 and 2020.
“The ocean is flooded”
“A global catastrophe is putting a paradise at risk,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “The ocean is flooding, and the reason is clear: greenhouse gases, much of it from the burning of fossil fuels, are boiling the planet.”
As sea levels rise, the islands are losing coastal strips, stronger and more frequent storms are flooding cultivated areas and polluting freshwater supplies with salt water, and fish yields are declining due to acidification.
Some island nations fear they will become uninhabitable. The island nation of Kiribati, for example, has already purchased land in the Fiji Islands to relocate residents.
Source: Krone
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