UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a global SOS on Tuesday, saying sea temperatures over the Pacific islands were rising three times faster than the world average.

A rise in temperature causes water to expand, which contributes to sea level rise.

“I am in Tonga to send a global SOS – Save our Seas – to rising sea levels,” he said during his speech at the Pacific Islands Forum.

What did Guterres say?

The UN chief said the Pacific islands were “particularly vulnerable” to the effects of rising sea levels.

“Global sea levels are rising at a rate never seen in the last 3,000 years. Climate change is causing the oceans to overflow,” he said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Guterres spoke about the results of a report that showed that the Southwest Pacific is the most affected by rising sea levels, with some places experiencing more than double the global average over the past three decades.

He said the Pacific islands are only one to two metres above sea level and are therefore particularly vulnerable. “Half of the infrastructure is less than 500 metres from the sea,” he added.

A report by the UN climate monitoring body says that in some parts of the Pacific, sea levels have risen by around 15 centimeters in the last 30 years. The global average is 9.4 centimeters.

“The reason is clear: greenhouse gases – mainly produced by the combustion of fossil fuels – are cooking our planet. And the ocean has to endure the heat – literally,” said Guterres.

“Rising sea levels are increasing the frequency and severity of storm surges and floods. These floods inundate coastal communities. They destroy fisheries. They destroy crops. They contaminate freshwater. All of this puts Pacific island nations at great risk,” he said.

Pacific Islands Forum

Eighteen members of the Pacific Islands Forum met in Tonga for a week during the summit to discuss climate change and security.

The Pacific Islands Forum includes Australia, the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Australia is one of the world’s largest coal exporters. Guterres said the use of fossil fuels must eventually be phased out. When asked about Australia, he said that “the situation is different in different countries.”

Guterres: “We are all feeling the increasing pressure”

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Guterres calls for global support for vulnerable countries

If global emissions are not reduced, the Pacific islands will face a further 15 centimetres rise in sea levels and 30 days of flooding per year by 2050, Guterres warned.

“It is one disaster after another, and we are losing the ability to rebuild to withstand another cyclone or another flood,” Tuvalu’s climate minister Maina Talia told the French news agency AFP on the sidelines of the conflict.

Guterres called on world leaders to “massively increase” investment in climate change adaptation in vulnerable countries. “Developed countries must meet their (financial) commitments – including the commitment to double adaptation financing to at least $40 billion a year by 2025,” he said.

At the UN Climate Summit last year, a Damage and Loss Resilience Fund was approved to help poorer countries affected by climate disasters. However, mobilizing significant funds from richer countries remains a challenge.

tg/rmt (dpa, AFP, AP, Reuters)