By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
The Pacific islands are facing a triple whammy of accelerating sea level rise, ocean warming and acidification, according to a new report unveiled this week by UN Secretary-General António Guterres who issued a global SOS— Save Our Seas—on Tuesday.
Speaking at the 53rd Pacific Islands Forum Leadership meeting in Tonga, Guterres warned of unprecedented rates of sea level rise not seen in the past 3,000 years, foreshadowing a “worldwide catastrophe” that is “putting this Pacific paradise in peril” and threatening their “very existence because of climate change.”
According to the World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in the South-West Pacific 2023 report, sea surface temperatures have risen three times faster than the global average since 1980.
“During that time marine heatwaves have approximately doubled in frequency since 1980 and are more intense and are lasting longer,” states the report.
Celeste Saulo, WMO secretary general, said climate change “is the defining challenge" currently facing humanity.
Saulo noted that the raging climate threats are evident in rampant coastal flooding, shoreline retreat and saltwater contamination of freshwater supplies.
“It is increasingly evident that we are fast running out of time to turn the tide,” said Saulo, who joined Guterres during the report’s release.
Saulo said the ocean has taken up more than 90 percent of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases and is undergoing irreversible changes.
“Human activities have weakened the capacity of the ocean to sustain and protect us and – through sea level rise – are transforming a lifelong friend into a growing threat,” she added.
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“The reason is clear: greenhouse gases – overwhelmingly generated by burning fossil fuels – are cooking our planet. And the sea is taking the heat – literally,” Guterres said.
He added that despite accounting for just 0.02 percent of global emissions, the Pacific islands are uniquely exposed.
“Their average elevation is just one to two meters above sea level; 90 percent of the population live within 5 kilometers of the coast and half the infrastructure is within 500 meters of the sea,” Guterres said.
Endorsing the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, the UN chief vowed to mobilize international resources for the Pacific Resilience Facility and to engage with the Forum's climate-related initiatives.
"The survival plan for our planet is simple: Establishing a just transition for the phaseout of the fossil fuels that are responsible for 85 percent of the emissions of greenhouse gases," Guterres said.
He urged all countries to produce national climate plans — nationally determined contributions — by next year, aligning with the 1.5°C upper limit of global heating.
"The Group of 20 — the biggest emitters responsible for 80 percent of those emissions — must step up and lead, by phasing out the production and consumption of fossil fuels and stopping their expansion immediately," Guterres said.
"When governments sign new oil and gas licenses, they are signing away our future. The Pacific Island States’ ambition for a fossil-fuel-free Pacific is a blueprint for the G20 and for the world," he added.
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