Editorial: Time to swim or sink with rise in sea level

If there was ever any doubt that we should start taking the serious hazards posed by global warming a lot more seriously, the projected impact of sea-level rise as illustrated alongside today’s front-page story should be a definitive wake-up call.

In a world faced with many more imminent threats – particularly now as governments deal with the ever-increasing menace of terror attacks, religious fanaticism and radicalisation – it’s inevitable the environment will far too often be placed on the back burner.

But we can no longer shrug off extensive scientific research as mere fodder for scaremongers who paint disaster-movie scenarios. The impact of the rise of the sea level if the global temperature rises by 4°C is based on climatechange research by the respected US-based Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and there can be no escaping the long-term effects of rampant carbon emissions which ultimately threaten to submerge land currently home to hundreds of millions on six continents.

And we haven’t even begun to take into account the droughts, fires, floods and species extinction which also loom large. In South Africa – quite apart from sea-level rise – the implications for wildlife and eco-tourism if global warming is not contained could be disastrous.

This is why it is absolutely vital that Cop21, the Paris Climate Conference which starts next week, knuckles down to ensure the more than 166 countries responsible for over 90% of emissions are held to account when it comes to their planned targets to curtail this deadly spiral.

Our planet is in peril – the evidence is there, we can no longer pay lip service to protecting it. It is a dire emergency and must be treated as such.