Mass Relocations Planned as Sea Levels Rise
The government of Indonesia is preparing to do mass relocation’s of people living on islands considered vulnerable to rising sea levels over the next three decades.
Experts and Government officials fear that about 2,000 islands across the country will be underwater by between 2030 and 2040 due to rising sea levels caused by global warming. Indonesia has over 17,000 islands, of which, about 6,000 are populated.
“We have formed a technical team who will identify the islands which could sink, “Maritime and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi told the International Round-table Meeting of World Ocean Conference here Thursday. He went on to add “The government has prepared a contingency plan, which includes relocation of residents off the islands.”
Freddy said the islands were located in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua, and called on the international community to join forces in anticipating the disaster that would affect the whole world.
“Indonesia will only see small islands disappear, but there will be a country that is at risk of completely sinking due to the rising sea levels. Therefore, all countries must take this issue seriously.”
Riau Governor Ismeth Abdullah said the sea level increases were the result of global warming and would affect uninhabited islands in the province in the long run. Local fisherman are already feeling the pinch from climate change, he added.
“Climate change has cut the fishermen’s income because many fish are now gone,” Ismeth said. His administration has promoted mangrove reforestation to deal with the increasing sea levels.
Experts, representatives of regional governments and maritime and fisheries institutes from 13 countries, including from Europe and Southeast Asia, attended the round-table meeting.
The forum is expected to help formulate the Manado Declaration, which will cap the World Ocean Conference on May 11-15, 2009 in the North Sulawesi capital. The declaration will provide a reference of global maritime development and conservation.
Photo courtesy of Nature Explorer via Creative Commons licence
Sources: Jakarta Post and World Ocean Conference
“All I know is very single scientific body on earth supports the fact global warning is here and is threatening to destroy this planet.”
Ever. Single. Scientific body.
Really?
So we’ve gone from “consensus” to “unanimity?”
It’s more likely that this harrier’s fully colonized mind has just shut down.
And don’t even get me started on such vapid cluelessness as “All the models show…”
As for what Indonesia is up to… look for them to come whining around hoping to suck up some big checks so that one cent on the dollar makes it to their people.
Just more of the old scam.
Its great to say that, but you forget that it has been scientifically proven over and over that the sea level WILL rise. It could be 30 centemeters, but it could also be 1 metre. 10% of the world’s population live in low-lying coastal areas, where will they go when their houses are flooded? It doesn’t matter who’s fault it is, whether it’s man or nature, but it’s still going to happen. The glaciers are melting. Antarctica is melting. Places like Russia haven’t seen proper snowfall in quite a few years. Yes, our winters are colder but our summers are hotter. Seen the news about Australia lately? Queensland looks like Venice yet places like Victoria just had the Black Saturday bushfires. If that isn’t enough incentive to start reducing your CO2 emissions, don’t you people care about all the wildlife that will be left homeless? Of course polar bears can swim, but not for long. They will die. Humans have already caused mass extinctions of species, and as if that weren’t enough to weigh on our conscience, some people are too lazy to save what is left of our dying planet. Whether or not it is our fault, we HAVE played a part and it is our duty as the dominent species to do something about it.