RISING SEA LEVELS COULD COST US$14 TRILLION WORLDWIDE

RISING sea levels could cost US$14 trillion worldwide annually by 2100, say scientists who warn that failing to limit global warming to 2 degree centigrade will lead to dire global economic consequences.

The researchers from UK National Oceanographic Center (NOC) also found that upper-middle income countries such as China would see the largest increase in flood costs, whereas the highest income countries would suffer the least, thanks to existing high levels of protection infrastructure.

 More than 600 million people live in low-elevation coastal areas, less than 10 meters above sea level.  In a warming climate, global sea level will rise due to melting of land-based glaciers and ice sheets, and from the thermal expansion of ocean waters," said Ms Svetlana Jerjeva, from the NOC, at London on July 4, 2018.

 So sea level rise is one of the most damaging aspects of our warming climate,  said Ms Jevrejeva, lead author of the study published in the journal 'Environmental Research Letters'.  Sea level projections exist for emissions cenarios and socio-economic scenarios.  However, there are no scenarios covering limiting warming below the 2 centigrade and 1.5 centigrade targets during the entire 21st century and beyond.

The study team explored the pace and consequences of global and regional sea level rise with restricted warming of 1.5 and 2 degrees centigrade, and compared them to sea level projections with unmitigated warming following emissions scenario Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 Using World Bank income groups, they then assessed the impact of sea level rise in coastal areas from a global perspective, and for some individual countries using the Dynamic Interactive Vulnerability Assessment modelling framework.

(( Source : PTI, London, July 4, 2018 ))

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