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Rising Sea Levels

As the oceans warm they expand, when this is combined with melting glaciers sea levels across the world rise (current rate is 3mm a year). When half the world’s population live within 200 kilometres of a coast this creates a problem in developed and developing countries.

Almost two billion Asians live within 35 miles of a coast and as a result are close enough to suffer from the effects of increasingly deadly storm surges – food and water shortages coupled with increase in diseases will lead to humanitarian disasters with countries such as Bangladesh that do not have the economic resources to adapt to the changes. However, rising sea levels will also impact upon major coastal cities of the developed world such as London, New York and Sydney – without effective coastal defences these cities will also suffer from storm surges.

Tuvalu is a Polynesian Island located in the Pacific Ocean roughly midway between Hawaii and Australia. It comprises of four reef islands and four atolls and is home to the world’s third smallest population, consisting of just fewer than 12,000 people. As a result of rising sea levels, Tuvalu will soon become inhabitable and will then cease to exist. A similar fate awaits the Maldives.