By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Scientists have revealed that roughly 50 major coastal cities will need to implement unprecedented adaptation measures to prevent rising seas from swallowing their most populated areas.
A new study from Climate Central, a non profit research group in collaboration with researchers at Princeton University and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, resulted in striking visual contrasts between the world as we know it today and our underwater future, if the planet warms to 3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Climate Central researchers used global elevation and population data to analyze parts of the world that will be most vulnerable to sea level rise, which tend to be concentrated in the Asia-Pacific region, CNN reports.
Small island nations at risk of “near-total loss” of land, the report says, and eight of the top 10 areas exposed to sea level rise are in Asia, with approximately 600 million people exposed to inundation under a 3-degree warming scenario.
Climate scientists reported in August that the world is already around 1.2 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial levels. Temperatures should stay below 1.5 degrees, they say — a critical threshold to avoid the most severe impacts of the climate crisis.
In less-optimistic scenarios, where emissions continue to climb beyond 2050, the planet could reach 3 degrees as early as the 2060s or 2070s, and the oceans will continue to rise for decades beyond that before they reach peak levels.
“Today’s choices will set our path,” said Benjamin Strauss, the chief scientist at Climate Central and lead author on the report.
