Geneva, 27 August 2024 (dpa/MIA) - United Nations Secretary General António Guterres on Tuesday issued a "global SOS" on climate change, as he visited Tonga for a meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum.

Guterres' trip coincided with the publication of a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) which suggested the region is facing a "triple whammy" of threats: rising sea levels, ocean warming and ocean acidification.

"This is a crazy situation: rising seas are a crisis entirely of humanity’s making, a crisis that will soon swell to an almost unimaginable scale, with no lifeboat to take us back to safety,” Guterres said in the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa.

Sea levels have risen above the global average in the south-western Pacific - where Tonga and many other island states are located - while sea surface temperatures have climbed three times faster than the global average since 1980, the WMO report found.

Marine heatwaves have approximately doubled in frequency since 1980, are more intense and are lasting longer, the report said. Higher temperatures can destabilize marine ecosystems, threatening fishing grounds and coral reefs and promoting the growth of toxic algae.

Meanwhile, increased CO2 in the world's seas is accelerating ocean acidification, which can destroy coral reefs and harm sea life.

Guterres described the findings as "an SOS on sea level rise."

"A worldwide catastrophe is putting this Pacific paradise in peril," he said.

"Global average sea levels are rising at an unprecedented rate. The ocean is overflowing."

"The reason is clear: greenhouse gases – overwhelmingly generated by burning fossil fuels – are cooking our planet. And the sea is taking the heat – literally."

Despite accounting for just 0.02% of global emissions, the Pacific islands are uniquely exposed as their average elevation is just one to two metres above sea level.

Around 90% of the population live within 5 kilometres of the coast and half the infrastructure is within 500 metres of the sea, Guterres said.

"Surging seas are coming for us all – together with the devastation of fishing, tourism, and the Blue Economy. Across the world, around a billion people live in coastal areas threatened by our swelling ocean," he said.

"Yet even though some sea level rise is inevitable, its scale, pace, and impact are not. That depends on our decisions."

He reiterated his calls for drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and increasing investments in climate adaptation.

Guterres is currently touring the Pacific region. In Tonga he addressed the Pacific Islands Forum leaders' summit, where the leaders of a group of 18 countries in the region are meeting.

Photo: EPA