It was reported that the area that is projected to be under water by 2030 is where 90 percent of Guyana’s population resides. It was also stated that for centuries Guyana’s capital, Georgetown, has relied on sea walls – or, more accurately, one gigantic, 280-mile long sea wall, for protection.
Climate Central map illustrating land projected to be below tideline by 2030.
SEA WALLS
The sea walls is Georgetown’s main defence because most of the coastline is between 0.5 and one metre below high tide. With more than half of the country’s population in danger, it was stated that the country will need to bolster its sea wall substantially if Georgetown’s central areas are to avoid massive damage.
Other cities on the list of being submerged by 2030 are: Amsterdam, Netherlands; Basra, Iraq; New Orleans, USA; Venice, Italy; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Kolkata, India; Bangkok, Thailand and Savannah, USA.
The Climate Central map was created based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2021 report. Climate Central is an independent group of scientists and communicators who research and report the facts about climate change and how it affects people’s lives and the IPCC is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change.
While the map shows future sea levels, it does not illustrate what could happen during flooding or other extreme weather events.
Recently, this publication reported that Guyana is particularly vulnerable to rising sea level as a result of climate change, plus regional shifts in the height of the sea. This was highlighted in the 2020 World Health Organization (WHO) report on climate change.
According to the report, Guyana’s initial national communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) states that the sea level, along the Atlantic Coast, is projected to rise by about 40cm by the end of the twenty first century. This means the sea is rising at a rate of two – four millimetres each year, counting the entire century.
The report explained that “From 1951 to 1979, sea level off Guyana’s coast rose at a rate of some five times the global average (0.4 inch, or 10.2 millimetres per year)— and around six times the twentieth century average or three times the 1993 to 2009 annual average.”
Additionally, this is not the first time that Guyana’s vulnerability to sea level rise has been documented. Last year, a mini-documentary on the natural phenomenon of erosion and climate change produced by REEL Guyana and its founder, Alex Arjoon, spoke to the vulnerability of Guyana’s low-lying coastal region.
Not forgetting that severe flooding earlier this year had led to many sectors in Guyana being affected along with the livelihood of citizens. In June 2021, President Ali had declared the flooding situation in the country a National Disaster.
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Video: Guyana: COAST LAND Sea Walls Failing – A REEL Guyana Documentary
Coast Land is a Guyanese documentary that speaks to the vulnerability of the country’s coastal region which is the home to the majority of the population. It examines the effects of rising sea levels and cyclical erosion which results in massive overtopping and disruption of livelihoods.
Video: Guyana: COAST LAND – A REEL Guyana Documentary
Comments
Cliff: That’s great news, especially if the water comes into Georgetown as a Tsunami in the middle of the night when the residents are asleep. Let it just sweep them away.. Jagdeo and the gang will be celebrating because the people of Georgetown don’t vote for him.
If Georgetown becomes a part of the Atlantic Ocean, then Enmore has a chance of being the capital of Guyana
Taller and taller buildings being built though…
Have the people of Guyana been living in denial of the dangers of our global climate emergency?
At Mahaica there is a luxury gated community being planned at the seashore.
Before you run out to adjust the Universe, remember Guyana is nothing more than dust in the wind to the “People” stating the end of the world…………is coming!!!
OOOPS!!!!!!!
Australia has no intention of ending the sale of coal and intends to continue doing so for “decades into the future,” the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow learned Monday.
The decision by Canberra to back coal mining operations came after more than 40 countries pledged to eliminate use of the commodity within decades and the United Nations continues the push as part of its call to embrace green alternatives in a post-coronavirus reset world.
and we living on borrowed time….crooked goal post movers…
Speaking from the private jet and super yacht owners gathering, otherwise known as the COP 26 summit, Al Gore touted his latest solution to curb carbon emissions, mass surveillance via satellites, sensors and artificial intelligence.
In the interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, Gore declared that technology created by the so called Climate TRACE coalition will monitor greenhouse gas emissions and root out the culprits
remember…
Gore, who in 2008 said there would be no polar ice caps left within five years, continued, “And next year we’ll have it down to the level of every single power plant, refinery, every large ship, every plane, every waste dump, and we’ll have the identities of the people who are responsible for each of those greenhouse gas emission streams.”
Is it only me?????
After declaring last June 2021. The flooding is a National Disaster** what action was taken to begin to rectify the situation. Declaring a National disaster **Is that all?? 2030 is around the corner. Isn’t it time now that there is Oil money available to **maybe** Begin to improve the Sea Walls, improve the Koker System.. Use the money for the Good of the People in the Country and avoid some of the LOSS* to Farmland, Homes, Cattle etc, etc that the yearly flooding cause the people to experience.
Dig deeper much deeper…
Obama Travels to Glasgow
Barack Obama traveled to Glasgow, Scotland to lecture the world on the virtues of making sacrifices to reverse global warming. Obama is allowed to fly on private jets and own waterfront mansions but the peasants have to live in pods and ride bicycles.
Why is Barack Obama giving speeches and participating in round table discussions on climate change on the world stage?
People should/must call them out, truth is …$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ THEY DON’T CARE!!!
I wonder why the authorities do not consider moving the capital inland where the risk of flooding would be limited? Why are they building all those new hotels and malls in Georgetown and developing housing near to the shore on the East Coast? With the oil revenue they can take the necessary steps to move Inland?
What do you think Joan…. fake news
Guyana should do whatever it feels necessary, in their own time frame, don’t be bullied by people with lots of cash, doing the opposite.
My personal opinion, move the seewall back, maybe a hundred yards, had to be done in other countries, give the beach back to the owner,the sea, Georgetown sewage and kokers must be improved. The large buildings in the city removed the Natural drainage, little green spaces left.
Got to be practical, live within your means, the city is not moving away, soon.
I finally had time to watch the documentary movie “Coast Land”. Just stunning and impressive! I do however not agree with the expert’s analysis at the end of the movie, where she claims that building sea walls is futile. If the Netherland’s had followed her advice, 40% of the country would be submerged by sea water. Massive enforcing the sea walls is the only solution for Guyana in my opinion.
The thing is that the Dutch went to Guyana and gave advice to the Government a few years back, I am not sure which government but the advice was given and rejected as it was felt that the cost was too exorbitant. Moving the sea wall inland isn’t the best solution. Under the ocean off Kingston there are houses and plantations that were taken over by the sea. Better move beyond the CJIA and build a new capital there. .
you mean…
Tables of erosion and accretion, started by G. O. Case and maintained by the government, showed that accretion in the early 1840s was followed by erosion in the late 1840s. By 1855, the great Kingston Flood took place when the sea-dam, an earthen wall, was breached. It inundated the Kingston ward of Georgetown and washed away Camp House (the former residence for governors of the colony).
If so, I don’t think there was a “wall” oh BTW good luck with moving the city, anytime soon.
Higher?? will end up a concrete monstrosity, I wish they consider moving it back, before they add more buildings. Guyana might be in a better position than the Netherlands, I also feel city drainage is just as important. Those guys, only adding band aids
Food for thought.
Hundreds of miles of Guyana’s coastline have been eroded over great ages – hundreds of thousands of years. Oil was found more than 200 miles offshore. The landmass once extended hundreds more miles northward.
The sea will surely one day overpower feeble thinkers who fall to see the danger and act to prevent impending disaster.