The oceans have absorbed more than 90% of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases since 1971 and are already undergoing “changes that will be irreversible in the coming centuries,” the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned on Tuesday.
This is one of the findings of the WMO report on the state of the climate in the southwest Pacific in 2023, presented in Tonga by the organization’s Secretary Celeste Saulo and visiting UN Secretary-General António Guterres during the 53rd Pacific Islands Leaders Forum Summit.
Pacific paradises are under threat from an “overflowing” ocean, Guterres said, as global sea levels rise at an unprecedented rate. But the problem “comes to us all, with devastation to fisheries, tourism and the blue economy,” the UN leader said.