Mumbai
The sea-level rise projection for Mumbai seems to be “really scary”.
India’s financial capital Mumbai, one of the largest and most densely populated cities in the world, is at risk of being submerged by 2050. Much of the southern parts of Mumbai may sink at least below the projected high tide line.
“Built on what was a series of islands, the city’s historic downtown core is particularly vulnerable”
It also published a series of maps showing parts of Mumbai as well as Bangkok and Shanghai submerged by 2050.
Detailed maps from U.S. Climate Central
Below are detailed maps from U.S. Climate Central, which shows accurate risk zone areas in the U.S. as well as detail on the disaster zones and locations. All maps are based on an extreme 10-foot water-level rise plus a high tide flood possibility to show how dangerous this situation could become.
Further loss of land to rising waters there, threatens to drive further social and political instability in the region, which could reignite armed conflict and increase the likelihood of terrorism. So this is far more than an environmental problem. It’s a humanitarian, security, and possibly military problem too.
It is difficult to extrapolate such projections and their impacts on more resource-constrained developing nations, though historically, large-scale migration events have posed serious challenges to political stability, driving conflict.
It’s a caution that coastal communities worldwide must prepare themselves for much more difficult times in the future than what is anticipated if current trends of greenhouse gas emissions continue.
