In a new report from independent climate research organization Climate Central, climate scientists are now saying that the heat generated by human activity / climate change could push chronic floods further inland, impacting some 300 million people within 30 years. In addition, by 2100 roughly 200 million people could see a permanent loss of land to the sea.
The study notes that the threat is especially acute in coastal Asia, and could impact the economies and political stability of countries from India and Thailand to Indonesia and China. From the report:
"Start with mainland China. By 2050, land now home to 93 million people could be lower than the height of the local average annual coastal flood. Shanghai, which is the country’s most populous city, is projected to be particularly vulnerable to ocean flooding in the absence of coastal defenses. [snip]
Next, consider India’s situation in 2050. By that year, projected sea level rise could push average annual floods above land currently home to some 36 million people. West Bengal and coastal Odisha are projected to be particularly vulnerable, as is the eastern city of Kolkata. [snip]
Finally, take Bangladesh and Vietnam, where coastal land currently home to 42 million and 31 million people, respectively, could be threatened with saltwater flooding at least once per year at midcentury. By that time, average annual coastal floods are projected to rise higher than a wide swath of Bangladesh, including parts of the cities of Dhaka and Chittagong. In Vietnam, annual ocean floods are projected to particularly affect the densely populated Mekong Delta and the northern coast around Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, including the port city of Haiphong."It's an environmental and humanitarian disaster unfolding in front of mankind, and the U.S. fossil industry and their coin-operated Rethuglican Party are complicit in contributing to the climate crisis that's causing it.
(photo: Recent flooding in Jakarta, Indonesia)
