Local sources from India: India.Com, NDTV.in.
UK coverage: BBC.
In a worrying development that underscores the growing impact of climate change and human activity on urban centers, cities around the world are sinking at unprecedented rates, endangering nearly 76 million people. A comprehensive study conducted by the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore has shed light on the severity of the situation across 48 coastal cities, with Jakarta, Indonesia, being identified as one of the fastest-sinking cities due to factors such as excessive groundwater pumping and the resulting subsidence. This phenomenon, exacerbated by rising sea levels, poses an immediate risk to the city’s infrastructure and residents, with frequent flooding and parts of the city now submerged below sea level. The study underscores climate change and unchecked groundwater extraction as significant contributors to this alarming trend. Tokyo, Japan, however, stands out as a beacon of hope, showcasing a successful mitigation strategy through its efficient water supply management system, offering a potential blueprint for other affected cities, albeit with challenges such as high costs and the need for sustained political commitment. Furthermore, India finds itself grappling with this global issue, as evidenced by reports from India.Com and NDTV.in, highlighting that five of its cities – Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, and Surat – are also succumbing to the pressures of subsidence and sea-level rise, as confirmed by NASA warnings and corroborated by the NTU study. The situation is further aggravated by the melting of glaciers, attributed to a projected increase in Earth’s average temperature by 2.7°C by the end of this century, threatening coastal cities worldwide with submersion, including several in India like Mumbai, Chennai, and Visakhapatnam. The immediate and irreversible nature of glacier melting, despite potential stabilization of global temperatures, poses catastrophic effects on water availability and agricultural productivity, especially in regions dependent on glacier-fed rivers. The urgency to reassess our lifestyle and energy consumption patterns has never been more critical, as highlighted by the recent research published in Science, underscoring the dire need for global action to prevent further environmental degradation and avert a crisis of water and food scarcity.
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