‘Rough waters are bearing down on us all,’ UN chief warns

UN Secretary-General behind the scenes
photo: UN/Kiara Worth

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a “sea level rise emergency call” warning that “the surging waters are coming at us all.”

The United Nations Secretary-General launched the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Tonga on TuesdayLatest report on the climate conditions in the Southwest Pacific.

Guterres, who is attending the annual summit of Pacific Islands Forum leaders in Nuku’alofa, presented the current impacts and future projections of sea level rise, including coastal flooding, with global and regional implications, including for major coastal cities of the G20 and Pacific Small Island Developing States.

He said sea level rise was a crisis that “will soon swell to almost unimaginable proportions, with no lifeboats to carry us back to safety”.

“If we save the Pacific, we save ourselves,” he said, calling on the global community to phase out fossil fuels quickly and equitably.

He said that as “major emitters”, the G20 should play a leading role in pushing developed countries to implement climate finance agreements and “substantially increase funding and support for vulnerable countries.”

Guterres said the oceans are overflowing and he has seen changes in the Pacific since his last visit.

“Developed countries must deliver on their financial commitments, including the pledge to double adaptation finance to at least $40 billion per year by 2025,” he said.

“Making a substantial contribution to the new Loss and Damage Fund is a step towards climate justice and is designed to support vulnerable countries like the Pacific Islands.”

Guterres stressed that reducing carbon emissions requires global concerted action, and it is meaningless for different countries to accuse each other of not doing enough.

“We can’t keep blaming each other,” he said.

“We absolutely need all G20 countries to work together, using the best technologies available within the G20, using the financial resources available within the G20 and the multilateral development institutions, to take concerted global action to significantly reduce emissions by 2030.”