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.[social_buttons]

“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

14 thoughts on “Mass Relocations Planned as Sea Levels Rise”

  1. Ms. Bare Facts

    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.

  2. This is sorta hyped up to provide fodder for a global warming agenda. I’m all for stopping pollution etc. But if someone lies to me i’d rather not support their cause if noble at all.

  3. 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.

  4. “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…”

  5. The biggest trouble is in Bangladesh.

    The Sundarbans is an area of mangrove swamp of about 10,00sq.km. About 60% is in Bangladesh, the rest in E.India. According to UNESCO (http://whc.unesco.org/documents/publi_climatechange.pdf) up to 70% of this will disappear underwater.

    Trouble is, for various reasons India has erected a huge fence along it’s eastern border. So these refugees, in one of the World’s poorest countries, will have nowhere to go.

    It’s a disaster waiting to happen.

  6. All I know is very single scientific body on earth supports the fact global warning is here and is threatening to destroy this planet. I do remember a time when it rained on my car, when the rain evaporated there would be no trace of the rain drops. In the 70s, the pollution created “acid rain.” and left stains around the rain drops. We now need to filter rain water.

    I knew then as a child, with adults not doing anything to stop pollution, there would be serious consequences to pay with our water supply, because the natural filtration system would be destroyed and the animals would get sick and die on an ever increasing global scale.

    Say what you want, but there is no doubt in my mind, the next big wars will be fought over water. As all the models show,because of the weather changes, the balance of power will go to the Russians and the US simply does not have the infrastructure to move all the people from the coastline areas inland. Sea levels on the US West Coast have already been gone up. I know that because that is where I live. Because of those elevated sea levels-one storm at the right time will total the expensive houses on the shoreline

  7. “Mr. Green” are you really ignorant enough to think that the Indonesian government (as well as the rest of the of world) haven’t deployed any scientists and that they are getting all of their facts from an American documentary? Not a bright bulb are we?

  8. “Stop listening to Al Gore and read the data for yourself.”

    More importantly, stop listening to climate scientists who have spent years gathering this data, interpreting it, finding gaps in the available data, filling those gaps, refining their interpretations and who have reached the overwhelming consensus that global warming and the resulting chaotic climate change is largely caused by us.

    Instead, see if you can’t find a way to read into the meager data available to you, the conclusions that would be most convenient.

    I think we have a plan!

  9. “but man is not the culprit” loll.. yes it is a natural cycle but man has helped speed things up..

    why is every trying too not blame the human race, you stupid of something.. i have only been alive 26 years and yet i have noticed a massive diff. in my life in all teh weather aspects. something is not right that’s for sure.. arrogant

  10. Absolute rubbish, this global warming is. We have been coming out of an ice age for the last 10,000 years. Sea levels have remained virtually unchanged for a millenia. At the end of the last glacial minimum (20K years ago) the seas were 120 meters lower than they are now. Stop listening to Al Gore and read the data for yourself. Global warming is happening, but man is not the culprit. This is the natural ebb and flow of the climate and we are just starting to discover it.

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