Kiribati President; Talks, Treaties, Tech No Longer Matter; His Nation, Maldives, Marshalls Are Done
It is already too late to save many small island states from being swamped by rising seas, according to the president of Kiribati.
Even if the world agrees to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, total annihilation is now inevitable for Kiribati, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands and the Maldives, with drastic impacts expected within the next 20 years, warned Anote Tong.
Whatever is agreed within the United States today, with China, it will not have a bearing on our future, because already, its too late for us. And so we are that canary, Tong said in an interview on CNN.
Carbon dioxide, which is the main driver of climate change, remains in the atmosphere for centuries after it has been emitted. This means that the world is already locked in to a certain level of global warming in addition to the 0.8C already experienced. Last week, Marshall Islands foreign minister Tony de Brum said that rising seas had caused World War Two skeletons to be washed from their graves.
EDIT
http://www.rtcc.org/2014/06/10/kiribati-president-it-is-too-late-to-save-my-islands/