Sea Level Claims an Island
Climate change has just resolved one potential flashpoint between India and Bangladesh: a disputed island in the Bay of Bengal slipped beneath the waves.
New Moore Island (to the Indians) or South Talpatti (to the Bangladeshis) was not inhabited, but at least 10 inhabited islands in the Sunderbans are at risk of being swamped.
Sugata Hazra, an oceanographer at Jadavpur University in Calcutta warned the AP, “We will have ever larger numbers of people displaced from the Sunderbans as more island areas come under water.”
That same AP story noted:
Bangladesh, a low-lying delta nation of 150 million people, is one of the countries worst-affected by global warming. Officials estimate 18 percent of Bangladesh’s coastal area will be underwater and 20 million people will be displaced if sea levels rise 1 meter (3.3 feet) by 2050 as projected by some climate models.
There’s a lot of sound and fury these days about scientists behaving badly, but the truth about climate change and rising sea levels is out there, beyond the white papers, the talking points and the ad campaigns. Climate change is real. Look no further than New Moore Island.
