Rising seas

The latest IPCC report released in February 2007, notes that sea levels are rising faster than previous forecasts. Sea levels, which rose on average 1.8mm a year between 1961 and 2003, doubled between 1993 and 2003 - rising by 3.1mm per year.

A one metre rise would inundate coastal areas throughout the world:

• In Bangladesh, three million hectares would be inundated, displacing 15-20 million people.
  

• In India, 600,000 hectares would be submerged, driving 7 million people from their homes.
  

• Over 3.4 million hectares would be waterlogged in Indonesia, pushing at least two million people out of low lying areas.
  

• Vietnam would lose 500,000 hectares of land in the Red River Delta and another 2 million hectares in the Mekong Delta, displacing roughly 10 million people.
  

• In the Philippines up to one-quarter of the entire population could be affected, with 5-10 million displaced.
  

• Nearly all of the Maldives' 1,196 coral islands would disappear off the map, making refugees out of the entire population of 300,000.
  

• In Egypt 2 million hectares of the Nile Delta would disappear, displacing 7-10 million people.

The US National Atmospheric and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported in August 2000 that the world's oceans were warming much faster than anticipated, contributing to sea level rise and global climate change. Over the past several decades the world ocean has warmed by 0.3 degrees Centigrade, representing a huge increase in the heat content of the ocean.

Ocean warming, including coral bleaching and rising seas are already impacting on coastal populations and ecosystems.

Link:

IPCC Special Report on The Regional Impacts of Climate Change.

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