Sinking Lands - Disputes Overshadow Looming Crisis

The island of New Moore (also called South Talpatti island) in the Sunderbans in the Bay of Bengal is now completely underwater. Uninhabited, it's just one of many others that may not welcome the next century above the water. New Moore island was claimed by both Bangladesh and India for the past thirty years and there has been no resolution in the dispute with both parties staunch on their claim. But now that the island is underwater, there's nothing more to claim.

The sinking of New Moore island (left, where it used to be) is blamed on global warming. Current measurements place the rising of sea level in the Bay of Bengal at .2 inches every year. Until the year 2000, the rate was only at .12 inches per year. Researchers at the School of Oceanographic Studies at Jadavpur University in Calcutta say that the rise is alarming because Bangladesh is one of the countries seen to be harshly affected by the rising bay in the next fifty years when the local sea level reaches 1 meter. When that time is reached, scientists predict that 18% of the country's coastal area will be submerged, affecting 20 million people.  

Other countries and territories will of course also be affected and the number of people worldwide who will lose their homes will definitely rise; there's the Maldives (left) - a vacationer's paradise, the city of Rotterdam - which is a few meters below sea level, Maputo - the capital of Mozambique, and the Philippines - with over 7,100 islands. There are many more all over the globe and even now, the encroachment of the sea into human habitats is creating a lot of pressure on governments already struggling with population management, resources, and territorial claims. 

In the Philippines, there are the disputed Spratley Islands (left), some of which are claimed by other Asian countries like China. If sea levels will indeed rise one meter in fifty years, these islands will probably be underwater and all the effort and resources put into claiming and guarding them will have been for nothing (unless they start anew claiming territorial responsibility). But then that would still not help. It would be better if they pool resources to provide a solution to the impending problem of relocating people who will lose their homes and livelihood when the sea claims them. 

Back in the Bay of Bengal, other islands (left; encircled, top) are expected to go underwater soon. Some of them are still disputed territories but are inhabited, unlike New Moore. In spite of the warnings made by the scientific community, it seems that the disputes take precedent over the impending problem of relocation when the sea claims the islands. Of course, there's the even larger problem of millions of people once coastal towns and cities of Bangladesh become submerged.  

It would seem far-fetched, but the governments of countries like Bangladesh, India, The Maldives, and the Philippines, must already have laid down plans on what to do when rising sea levels bring problems to coastal areas. Let's hope that the scientists are wrong, but what if they are right? It seems  the world is headed to more flooding based on what's been observed and measured. 

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