Global warming-induced sea level rise triggers a serious crisis and may result in trillions of dollars in losses

From August 26 to 30, the 53rd Leaders Meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum was held in Nuku'alofa, the capital of Tonga. UN Secretary-General António Guterres attended the meeting and presented a technical briefing on sea level rise.

Guterres warned that the crisis of sea level rise caused by global warming "will soon expand to an almost unimaginable scale." Some coastal areas will suffer from floods for more than 30 days a year, and the economic losses caused by coastal floods may amount to trillions of dollars. At the same time, the "Climate Status of the Southwest Pacific" report released by the World Meteorological Organization points out that sea level rise is having a devastating impact on the region, and the relative sea level rise in the Southwest Pacific exceeds the global average.

The vision of this meeting is to promote policy review and implementation, involving multi-domain cooperation in the "Blue Pacific Continent 2050 Strategy." The problem of sea level rise caused by global warming has become a major challenge facing Pacific island countries. It not only threatens the living environment of local residents but also poses a huge risk to the global economy. Countries should strengthen cooperation and jointly take effective measures to address climate change, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and protect the marine ecological environment to avoid trillions of dollars in losses and irreversible ecological disasters caused by sea level rise.