MUMBAI: Already at risk from rains, flooding and open sewers, slum-dwellers who live by the ocean in the Indian financial capital Mumbai are vulnerable to rising seas caused by global warming and say the government should help them move to safer locations.
Thousands of people, mostly migrants from other parts of the country, live in temporary shelters, built on rocks at the edge of the sea and are likely to be the first hit from coastal flooding caused by climate change.
Advertisement
Advertisement
"Even hearing about (the rising sea levels) we feel afraid. What do we do? We have been living here for so many years. It would be good if the government could do something to help us," said Kamakshi Tangesh Devender, who lives in a slum in Worli neighbourhood.
Climate change poses a greater threat to poor communities in developing nations like India, Indonesia and the Philippines, with people living on the margins less able to protect themselves from the impact.
Waves crash against the promenade along a seashore in Mumbai, India, on Nov 28, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Prashant Waydande)
A research paper last month by Climate Central, a US-based non-profit climate science and news organisation, found that climate change will put an estimated 300 million people globally at risk of coastal flooding by 2050.
Advertisement
Advertisement
The UN-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in a report in September that sea levels could rise by 1m by 2100 — 10 times the rate in the 20th century — if carbon emissions that are responsible for climate change keep climbing.
"Mumbai is going to be under water, we need to plan for that eventuality and what is required is to plan a new city to replace Mumbai as and when it gets submerged. And ideally, to my mind, it should bRead More – Source
