太平洋地域の海面上昇加速に「ＳＯＳ」　国連事務総長

【ヌクアロファ（トンガ）ＡＦＰ＝時事】国連のアントニオ・グテレス事務総長は２７日、太平洋諸島フォーラム首脳会議（サミット）が開幕した南太平洋の島国トンガを訪問し、地球規模の気候危機に関する「ＳＯＳ」を発信した。グテレス氏は、太平洋地域の海面が世界平均をはるかに上回る速さで上昇していることを示す調査結果を提示し、警鐘を鳴らした。（写真は国連のアントニオ・グテレス事務総長）
　グテレス氏は「私はここトンガで、海面上昇についての世界的なＳＯＳ、『Ｓａｖｅ Ｏｕｒ Ｓｅａｓ（私たちの海を救え）』というメッセージを発信する。世界的な大惨事が太平洋に浮かぶこの楽園を危機にさらしている」と訴えた。
　人口密度が低く、重工業もほとんど発展していない太平洋の島しょ国は、年間の温室効果ガス排出量の合計は世界の０．０２％未満にすぎない。だが、広大な火山群島や低地のサンゴ環礁は、海岸侵食の急速な脅威にさらされている熱帯の海洋回廊に位置している。
　国連の世界気象機関が発表した最新の報告書によると、過去３０年間で太平洋の一部地域では海面が約１５センチ上昇している。世界平均は９．４センチだった。
　キリバスやクック諸島など一部地域では、世界平均とほぼ同じか、それ以下だったが、サモアやフィジーの首都などでは３倍近い上昇が確認された。
　さらに、海抜が低いツバルについて専門家は、控えめに想定しても、今後３０年以内に国土がほぼ消滅する可能性があると警告している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/08/27-17:06）

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent out a global climate SOS at a Pacific islands summit on Tuesday, unveiling research that shows the region's seas rising much more swiftly than global averages.
I am in Tonga to issue a global SOS -- Save Our Seas -- on rising sea levels. A worldwide catastrophe is putting this Pacific paradise in peril he said.
Sparsely populated and with few heavy industries, the Pacific islands collectively pump out less than 0.02 percent of global emissions every year.
But this vast arc of volcanic islands and low-lying coral atolls also inhabits a tropical corridor that is rapidly threatened by encroaching oceans.
The World Meteorological Organisation has been monitoring tide gauges installed on the Pacific's famed beaches since the early 1990s.
A new report released by the top UN climate monitoring body showed seas had risen by around 15 centimetres in some parts of the Pacific in the last 30 years.
The global average was 9.4 centimetres, according to the report.
It is increasingly evident that we are fast running out of time to turn the tide, said the forecasting agency's top official, Celeste Saulo.
Some sites, particularly in Kiribati and Cook Islands, measured a rise that matched or was just under the global average.
But other sites, such as the capital cities of Samoa and Fiji, were rising almost three times higher.
In low-lying Pacific nation Tuvalu, land is already so scarce that throngs of children use the tarmac at the international airport as their own makeshift playground.
Scientists have warned that, even under some moderate scenarios, Tuvalu could be almost entirely wiped off the map within the next 30 years.
It's disaster after disaster, and we are losing the capacity to rebuild, to withstand another cyclone or another flood, Tuvalu Climate Minister Maina Talia told AFP Monday on the summit's sidelines.
For low-lying island states, it's a matter of survival for us.
- Canary in the coal mine -
The plight of Pacific islands has been easily overlooked in the past, given their relative isolation and lack of economic might.
But the region is increasingly seen by scientists as a climate canary in the coal mine, hinting at the troubles potentially facing other parts of the planet.
This new report confirms what Pacific leaders have been saying for years, Australian climate researcher Wes Morgan told AFP.
Climate change is their top security threat. Pacific nations are in a fight for survival, and cutting climate pollution is key to their future.
Surrounded by millions of square miles of tropical ocean, the South Pacific is uniquely threatened by sea-level rise.
The vast majority of people live within five kilometres of the coast, according to the United Nations.
Rising seas are swallowing up scarce land and tainting vital food and water sources.
Warmer waters are also fuelling more intense natural disasters, while ocean acidification slowly kills the reefs that nourish key marine food chains.
Pacific nations are pushing for carbon polluting countries to cut emissions and fund climate resilience programmes.
The issue is expected to feature heavily in summit talks throughout the week.
The need for loss and damage finance is here today, and costs will only rise without urgent climate action now, said Rosanne Martyr, a senior scientist with the Climate Analytics policy institute.
In 2020, some Pacific Island nations including Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Micronesia lost more than one percent of their GDP to rising seas.