The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres in his latest SOS while speaking to a gathering of Pacific island regional leaders in Tonga’s capital Nukuálofa, has called upon countries to ‘Save Our Seas’, warning of a crisis of an “unimaginable scale” caused by greenhouse gases and rising sea levels.

Nuku’alofa is hosting more than 1,000 international delegates for the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting until August 30. High on the agenda in the gathering of regional officials, who lead some of the world’s most vulnerable countries to climate change, is climate change and its impact on the Pacific’s low-lying communities.

“This is a crazy situation: Rising seas are a crisis entirely of humanity’s making. A crisis that will soon swell to an almost unimaginable scale,” he said. “The reason is clear: Greenhouse gases – overwhelmingly generated by burning fossil fuels – are cooking our planet. And the sea is taking the heat – literally.”

Speaking during the meeting that he last attended in 2019, Guterres warned that with 90 percent of people living within 5km of the coast, and an average elevation of just 1-2 meters above sea level, the ‘Pacific Islands are uniquely exposed’

“Without drastic cuts to emissions, the Pacific Islands can expect at least 15 centimeters [6 inches] of additional sea level rise by mid-century and more than 30 days per year of coastal flooding in some places,” he said. “But if we save the Pacific, we also save ourselves. The world must act and answer the SOS before it is too late.”

The “Pacific-owned and led” financial institution, Pacific Resilience Facility, is among the Pacific Islands’ most ambitious climate change mitigation efforts. The institution’s objective is to support local communities to become more resilient to climate change and is scheduled to start operations in 2025, however, it is facing a severe shortfall in funding from international donors

Considering the evident fact that the Group of 20 (G20) nations are the biggest emitters. Speaking during the meeting, the SG repeated his longstanding appeal for financial support to the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries,

“We need a surge in funds to deal with surging seas,” he said.

The Climate Action Team report found that sea levels in Nuku’alofa had risen 21 centimeters (8.3 inches) between 1990 and 2020, more than twice the global average of 10 centimeters (3.9 inches).