Sea level rise could affect millions in Kolkata, Mumbai: UN

Kolkata and Mumbai could be severely ravaged by rising sea levels affecting millions of people, a report by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warns.

The report is studded with red flags about the impacts of sea-level rise caused by global warming, which melts glaciers and ice sheets and warms the waters, affecting property, people, and even cultures.

The annual rise in sea levels reached the highest level ever in 2024, recording nearly six millimetres, said the report released by Secretary-General Amina Mohammed at the 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting.

Palau, a nation of Pacific islands many of which could be substantially smothered by rising ocean waters, is hosting the meeting underlining the dire dangers.

The report said, "In the low-lying deltas of South Asia, in cities such as Kolkata and Mumbai in India, and Dhaka, the defining impact is human displacement, with more than 14 million people at immediate risk of losing their homes to permanent inundation."

The report did not set a definite deadline for this chilling scenario to play out.

At a news conference in New York, Assistant Secretary-General Navid Hanif said that rising sea level "sets a challenge" because people in those areas "are losing their coastline".

The fallout from rising sea levels, however, goes beyond the coastal areas, he said.

"Please treat sea level rise as a systemic threat", he said, because it will impact "your health, food security, your human rights culture, you lose your ancestral land, you lose your identity".

"So that's why this issue requires a very comprehensive approach by governments to make it a part of their planning process", he added.

A tsunami-like mixture of water and mud blamed on a glacier breaking loose and crashing down from the Himalayas killed hundreds on the Nepal-Tibet border last week and laid waste to various areas.

Asked about the impact on South Asia of glaciers melting or plummeting down, Hanif said the Himalayan glaciers were considered the Third Pole.

"We have the North Pole, South Pole, and South Asia because the concentration of glaciers has the Third Pole in the world", he said.

"The scenarios indicate, and I hope they don't come to be true", he said, the danger for "South Asia in the next 15 to 20 years is flooding" would be from glaciers melting.

This could be followed by drought affecting crops and food security, creating massive risks, he said.

Globally, the report said that about 770 million people or nearly one in every ten people on Earth, are at risk because they live in coastal areas less than five metres above the high-tide line and already face significant risks.

It is estimated that infrastructure worth at least $1.8 trillion is endangered by sea level rise‑related risks globally.

"Sea level rise is already damaging urban infrastructure, water systems, transport, energy grids, buildings and groundwater resources, creating far‑reaching consequences that threaten the effective enjoyment of human rights, long‑term”, it said.

The report said that while the danger from sea level rise will be felt most acutely by island nations, it does not respect geographies.

"In high-income cities such as Miami and New York in the United States and Guangzhou in China, for example, the primary impact is the staggering financial exposure of coastal infrastructure, with assets at risk estimated between $2 trillion and $3.5 trillion," it said.

Indo-Asian News Service