Islands in Danger of Climate Change Destruction
Posted on September 12, 2008
Filed Under Climate Change | Leave a Comment
One of the direct consequences of climate change is the rise in sea levels. Observations since the mid-19th century, though convouluted, show a global average of about 20cm/8 inches in that time. Some coral atolls in the Pacific Island nations of Micronesia are already disappearing. This is demonstrated by the Maldives, Kiribati and Tuvalu – all nations that may disappear beneath the waves .
With the onset of increasingly frequent and fierce cyclones or hurricanes, the islands are physically weakened and begin to sink a bit. Even a .5cm/1/8 inch increase in the level of the seas could half of some small islands to disappear by 2012. The most populous island threatened by 2020 is New Guinea and it’s mirror twin Papua New Guinea, home to many of the last “undiscovered” tribes. Because of climate change, that first contact may be an evacuation of the island observed after inundation with rising sea waters.
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