The federal government’s Parliamentary Secretary for the Pacific, Richard Marles, used dire warnings of rising sea levels and the impact on low-lying islands to urge the UN to adopt climate change as a global security issue.
Evoking images of standing atop Majuro atoll in the Marshall Islands and feeling the “intense vulnerability” of a flat landscape against a rising sea, Mr Marles said that a sea level rise of 1m could lead to the erosion of up to 80 per cent of the atoll, which measures just 3m at its highest point.
However, a new paper in the Journal of Coastal Research by Murray Ford of Hawaii University, based on an analysis of 34-37 years of aerial photos and satellite imagery, says sea levels are only rising around Majuro by an average 3mm a year.
If the present rate of rise is maintained, the total rise at the start of the 22nd century would be about 27cm.
Mr Ford found that while the rural lagoon shore is mainly eroding, “the ocean-facing shore is largely accreting”, or growing, although that may be in surface area rather than in depth.
“Shoreline change within the urban area of Majuro has been largely driven by widespread reclamation for a mix of residential, commercial, and industrial activities,” the study found.
“Rural areas of the atoll typically have lower rates of shoreline change.”
Strong pleas from Mr Marles and Nauru’s President Marcus Stephen in New York on Wednesday failed to convince the UN Security Council to adopt climate change as a priority.
Russia and developing nations blocked a tough statement on the issue by the council of 15 countries, which Australia is campaigning to join in 2013.
US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice expressed frustration at the result.
“This is more than disappointing,” she said.
“It’s pathetic. It’s shortsighted, and frankly, it’s a dereliction of duty.”
Mr Stephen, who spoke on behalf of Pacific island countries, said: “Let history report that again we have sounded the alarm and the world chose not to act.”
Russia’s deputy UN ambassador, Alexander Pankin, spoke of the “hypothetical nature” of the threat posed to sea levels by climate change.
“Involving the Security Council in a regular review of the issue of climate change will not bring any added value whatsoever, and will merely lead to further increased polarisation of this issue and increased disagreements between countries,” Mr Pankin said.
China’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Wang Min, said that climate change “is fundamentally a sustainable development issue” rather than a security issue, and that the industrialised world should spend more to mitigate any effects on developing countries.
The council agreed on a modest motion that included the reference to “possible security implications”.
