Global warming on Free Republic
Posted on 08/22/2008 2:18:06 PM PDT by Abathar
ACCRA (AFP) - Rising sea levels caused by climate change will brutally redraw a 4,000-kilometre (2500-mile) stretch of west African coastline from Senegal to Cameroon by century's end, experts were told AFP Friday.
"The cost of Guinea will cease to exist by the end of this century," said Stefan Cramer, a marine geologist and head of German green group Heinrich Boll Stiftung's operations in Nigeria.
"The countries most threatened by this looming environmental disaster are Gambia, Nigeria, Burkina Fasso and Ghana," he told AFP on the sidelines of a major UN climate conference in the Ghanaian capital Accra.
Cramer said sea levels were set to rise up to two centimetres (0.8 inches) per year, enough to devastate large swathes of fragile coastline, especially in low-lying and densely populated deltas.
Last year UN climate change experts initially predicted more modest rises of 18 to 59 centimetres (7.2 to 23.2 inches), but in a final version of their report left the upper limit open-ended due to mounting scientific evidence that levels might climb much higher.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had not taken into account the potential impact of runoff from the 3,000-metre (1.9 mile) thick Greenland ice cap, which covers an areas three times the size of Nigeria.
Recent studies have suggested the continent-sized ice block could be melting far more quickly than once thought.
Among the cities worst hit would be the Gambian capital Banjul and Lagos, Nigeria's economic capital and home to 15 million. Some parts of Lagos lie below sea-level today and it is already subject to frequent flooding.
The solution, he said, is to focus on the source of the problem rather than on how to adapt to its consequences.
"The industrialised countries should take proactive steps in curtailing greenhouse gas emissions," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Global warming on Free Republic
Well, we know who his VP pick is now. Most-liberal-in-Senate/3rd-most-liberal-in Senate 2008! I won’t settle for a lesser evil any longer!
Interesting. About what time is this supposed to start?
And here I thought that a rise in sea level would be the same world wide. OBTW How much has sea level risen in the last 100 years?
“West Africa’s coastline redrawn by climate change”
Are they sure it isn’t plain old genocide that’s redrawing the coastlines? :(
It’s not wise to build to close to any body of water. Rivers, lakes, the ocean, can all rise and flood you out.
Despite that fact, people flock to the water’s edge.
Probably because that ice cap is getting thicker, not thinner.
I've often wondered what the African coastline looked like back when the Vikings settled Greenland, and there wasn't an icecap....
Well, if you read the article, it basically says that it would start when/if the Greenland Ice Cap starts melting at an accelerated rate. Tbey don't specify a time for that other than it could potentially happen this century. Or next. Or not.
IN case you think I'm being glib:
Greenland glacier crack points to disintegration
From: PHOTOS: Huge Greenland Glacier Disintegrating
I recommend reading the text. The pictures were from July, as you can see, the first linked article from 4 days ago.
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