Coastal communities face ‘catastrophic flooding’ from rising sea levels

Global mean sea levels have risen faster in the 20th century than in any prior century over the past 3,000 years.

Surging sea levels are creating “a rising tide of misery” that threaten the future of nearly a billion people that live in low-lying coastal areas, the UN chief has warned, as they become increasingly vulnerable to storm surges, coastal erosion and flooding.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the global mean sea level has risen faster than in any prior century over at least the past 3,000 years.

NASA says that as global temperatures have risen about one degree Celsius (1.8F), sea levels have gone up 160 to 210 millimeters (six to eight inches) with about half of that amount occurring since 1993.

“Rising seas mean a rising tide of misery,” said Antonio Guterres, speaking at a summit that placed sea-level rise at the top of the international agenda at the UN General Assembly earlier this week.

Guterres warned of “communities swamped, freshwater contaminated, crops ruined, infrastructure damaged, biodiversity destroyed and economies decimated – with sectors such as fisheries, agriculture and tourism pummeled”.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, the average sea level globally reached a record high last year. The UN reported that the rate of increase over the last decade is more than twice the rate of sea level rise in the first decade of the satellite record, from 1993 to 2002.

“The primary cause of sea-level rise is human-induced climate change. Melting land ice and the expansion of seawater as it warms are the main drivers of rising waters around the world,” Ryan Hobert, associate vice president for climate and environment at the UN Foundation, told Al Jazeera.

“The ocean is actually