UN Secretary-General warns “annihilation” of Pacific territories if climate change is not checked

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned Pacific region saying that the territories face “annihilation” from climate-induced cyclones, ocean heatwaves and rising sea levels. Guterres said it on a visit to Samoa on Thursday. He said the fate of Pacific islands depended on limiting the global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Guterres has already been proved right by the recent severe climate-change-induced monsoon conditions in many countries in the Pacific regions, including India’s Kerla landslides that claimed over 400 victims. Kerala is connected with the ocean.

In the Paris climate agreement of 2015, nearly 200 nations had agreed to strive for a target to keep the warming within 1.5 degree Celsius, but reality is far from this. “High and rising sea levels pose an enormous threat to Samoa, to the Pacific and to other small island developing states, and these challenges demand resolute international action,” Mr. Guterres said. The Pacific region contributes just 0.02% of global carbon emissions, yet it is on the top of the list on the receiving front.