Sea levels are rising apparently from Pakistan to Australia. Debates rage among scientists, government officials and citizens regarding how to combat the problem and what is its cause (carbon dioxide emissions, global warming or cooling, melting glaciers, etc.). But when you lose your home or fishing business because the sea water rushes in, it becomes downright personal. You want action – like yesterday.
A climate change conference held in the South Pacific nation of Kiribati was covered on Nov. 11, 2010 by an Associated Press journalist. President Anote Tong, hosting the conference, pleaded for a quick deliverance of funds to help island states such as Kiribati fight the negative impacts of climate change. Entire villages had to be relocated, food crops have been destroyed and fresh water wells were contaminated by sea water.
“The message we are trying to make here very clearly is that we are running out of time and as long as the global community continues to debate, it may be too late for some of our communities,” he told reporters.
Fast forward to 2011, a year of horrific tornadoes, Hurricane Irene, a Virginia earthquake and more in the U.S. grabbing our news focus, and sea water continues to encroach upon countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Bali, Indonesia, Vietnam, India and Pakistan.
Six months ago I noticed Internet articles were referring to water problems mostly being due to heavy rainfall or flooding. There has been a shift in the media’s reporting overall in these countries, with more news sources calling the situation a result of “tidal ingression” or “salt or sea water intrusion” or “salt or sea water incursion” or “high tide water levels.” Please note what they have in common is the source is the sea, not flooding, as in riverbanks overflowing. If the media continued to call the problem due to heavy rainfall or flooding, they would lose credibility with the public.
IBNLive of India reported online Sep. 3, 2011, 350 huts of fishermen on the coast were washed away. A farmer, Jena, told reporters last year the waves destroyed 700 meters of the coast but now the danger had reached the “doorsteps” of his village, barely 100 meters away. An irrigation official, Pranabandhu Panda, said sand bags were used to “pack the breached sea embankments.”
In Badin, Pakistan, 1.8 million people were evacuated to relief camps due to “sea water intrusions” according to Pakistan Observer of Sep. 17, 2011.
A 1992 report entitled “The Potential Socio-Economic Effects of Climate Change” authored by Magalhaes and Nih noted the negative impacts of sea level rise could be severe for Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. All three countries have a large proportion of coastal plains which could be inundated. The estimate in dollars nearly a decade ago put the cost of “preventing sea incursion on 5000 km of low lying coastline” at about US$ 50 billion. I don’t think they can come these days asking for our financial assistance.
Padi (rice) expert Ho Nai Kin, 65, is a senior agronomist with Muda Agricultural Development Authority. He deals with viruses, pests and other hazards to Malaysia’s staple food crop. He has encountered what he terms “sea water incursion” in Sarawak which has rendered the land unsuitable to grow rice, a food which sustains several billion humans on planet Earth.
Sàigòn of Vietnam posted on Aug. 31, 2011, “high tide levels in Ho Chi Minh City” were forecast due to heavy rainfall and high tide water levels.
The tourism industry of the island of Bali posted an article in September 2011 “Is Your Hotel Sinking? Saltwater Intrusion Threatens to Undermine Hotels on Bali’s Beachfronts.” You probably remember the musical “South Pacific” with its beautiful song “Bali Ha’i” – like many gorgeous coastal beaches and scenic spots, Bali Ha’i may soon be Bali Low.
What bothers me is why is the region from Pakistan to Australia suffering and hardly any other countries globally? Aren’t the oceans interconnected between continents and therefore sea level would pretty much rise worldwide from melting glaciers?
