UN Secretary General António Guterres’s statement about the risk of a mass exodus of peoples “on a biblical scale” is a call for the international community to take active action before catastrophic consequences occur. This opinion was expressed in an interview with Izvestia by Vladimir Pinaev, associate professor at the Institute of Ecology of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, on Wednesday, February 15.
On the eve of Guterres, at a meeting of the UN Security Council, he said that sea level rise leads to new sources of instability and a fierce struggle for access to resources. He suggested that lowland settlements and entire countries could disappear in the coming decades, according to a news outlet. portal international organization.
“Sea level rise is a fact. However, it should be noted that countries are quite capable of taking measures against this, as is done, for example, in the Netherlands. But if you stop supporting them, the territories will be flooded. This warning is rather a call to the international community to take active action before the catastrophic consequences come,” Pinaev stressed.
At the same time, the ecologist noted that countries have different resources and in some cases international assistance may be required.
“However, it will still be more profitable than dealing with the consequences of resettlement later,” the specialist concluded.
In December 2022, Australian and European scientists announced the risk of a mass extinction of living beings on Earth due to global warming and human activities. Overall, the authors of the study argued that co-extinction would increase the overall rate of loss of the most endangered species by 184% by the end of the century. At the same time, the damage from climate change and the exploitation of natural resources will be much greater than previously thought.
