NIt is nothing new that the Planet is heating up at an accelerated rate and that this already has consequences derived from the droughts we are witnessing, the catastrophic floods and the melting of the Arctic, phenomena that will continue in the future. Another effect is the rise in mean sea level, a reality that will determine the future of many populations.

Hmm new Climate Central study shows that some 50 major coastal cities will need to implement “unprecedented” adaptation measures to prevent the sea from swallowing them.

The simulations show two perspectives of the 50 cities: an optimistic one, if the main goals of the Paris Agreement are met, with a warming of 1.5ºC; the other, more pessimistic, reveals what will happen if nothing is done, if as a call of reduced non-major greenhouse gases, causing the Planet to heat up beyond 3ºC. In this last scenario, many regions of the world will be submerged, which will affect 10% of the population, around 800 million people.

The riverside area of ​​Lisbon is one of the examples, reflected in the interactive maps on the organization’s website. A simulation was carried out in the former Expo 98 area, now Parque das Nações, where a well-known Galp Tower is surrounded by water, as can be seen below.

“Today’s choices will define our path,” says Benjamin Strauss, researcher at Climate Central.

Climate Central scientists have concluded that the Asia and Pacific regions will be the most vulnerable to rising waters in the next 200 to 2 mole years. Island countries are at risk of seeing most of the land go underwater. China, Vietnam, Indonesia are countries identified as some of the most exposed.

If the planet’s temperature rise reaches 3ºC, Climate Central estimates that by 2100, about 43 million people in China will live in lands that are below the high tide level and that 200 million people will occupy areas at risk of the rise. of the waters in the region.

More than 120 world leaders are expected at a high-level meeting in the first days of COP26, which is expected to bring together some 25,000 participants, including politicians, activists, experts and national negotiators, in Glasgow, UK. Below you can see what the city of Glasgow will look like if the planet heats up to 3ºC.

Recently, the UN warned that the commitments made by the signatory states of the Paris Agreement are leading the world to a “catastrophic” global warming of + 2.7 °C, far from the 1.5 °C target to limit the destructive effects of climate change.

The Paris Agreement set targets for the reduction of greenhouse gases, to limit global warming to an increase of less than two degrees compared to the pre-industrial era, if possible to 1.5 degrees, but “failure to meeting this goal will be measured in the number of deaths and livelihoods destroyed,” insisted Guterres, calling on all governments to propose more ambitious livelihood reduction commitments.

Under the Paris Agreement, each country diverts by the end of 2020 its “national contribution”, but by July 30, only 113 countries represented less than half of global greenhouse gases (49%) revised appointments lost.

With these new promises, as derived from this group of 113 countries, including the United States and the European Union, it will be reduced by 12% in 2030, compared to 2010, which the UN climate responsible, Patricia Espinosa, considered a ” glimmer of hope “that does not erase, however, the “dark side of the equation”.

“Overall, the greenhouse gas base numbers are going in the wrong direction,” he lamented.

Planning all plans, revised or not, of the 191 countries subscribing to the Paris Agreement, the needs are expected to increase 16% in 2030, compared to 2010, when install lower 40% by 2030 to stay at 1.5 degrees or 25% for achieve the goal of the two degrees.

The 16% “increase” increase “may ​​represent a temperature rise of around 2.7 degrees by the end of the century”, with dramatic consequences, concluded a UN expert.

Read Also: Azores will have flood warning system until 2023, says Regional Government