Pacific sea levels rising twice global average, UN says

Pacific island countries are experiencing sea level rise at twice the global average, a UN report published Monday said, as a senior UN official urged leaders from major economies to see the threat from a Pacific atoll.

United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed spoke in Palau, where Pacific leaders have gathered for an annual summit to discuss challenges including climate change, crime and regional security.

Mohammed said last week's deadly floods in Nepal and rising seas in the Pacific were linked by a warming climate that is changing the world's ice and adding more water to oceans.

The United Nations is pushing for G20 leaders to attend a meeting hosted by Tuvalu in October, before the upcoming UN climate summit in Turkey. Mohammed said leaders should “turn up and really engage with the world on what they need to do”, despite concerns that few leaders from outside the Pacific will make the trip.

Tuvalu, among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, is preparing to relocate its population after scientists predicted most of its land may become inundated.

Palau's environment minister Steven Victor said the Pacific was “not begging for any handouts” but had fewer resources to deal with rising seas that threaten its communities.

The UN report said sea level rise is being driven by warming oceans and glacier melt. It said up to 1.2 billion people could be displaced by 2050. It also cited a financing gap, saying developing countries need $310 billion to $365 billion to adapt, while $26 billion in adaptation finance was available in 2023.

A separate Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network report released in Palau said global hard coral cover has declined 9.5% over 40 years because of climate change. The network analysed data from 37,000 reefs in 120 countries and found major bleaching events have occurred every five to six years since 2010.

Lead author Manuel Gonzalez Rivero said climate change is driving more frequent and severe marine heatwaves, while local pressures including poor water quality, overfishing and coastal development are making reefs less able to withstand them.