Rising seas could displace 600m people by 2100

Sea levels could rise by over one metre in the next 90 years, displacing 10% of the world’s population.

Six hundred million people are in danger of being flooded out of their homes by 2100, according to research presented last week at the International Scientific Congress on Climate Change (ISCCC) in Copenhagen.

Even on the most conservative estimates, sea levels are expected to rise by at least 50cm by the end of the century.

Eric Rignot, a senior research scientist at NASA, said: “As a result of the acceleration of outlet glaciers over large regions, the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are already contributing more and faster to sea level rise than anticipated.

“If this trend continues, we are likely to witness sea level rise one metre or more by year 2100.”

Dr Konrad Steffen from the University of Colorado said that Greenland has lost around 300 sq km of ice every year in the past decade - equivalent to two thirds of all the glacier ice in the Alps.

“Climate change is enhancing warming in the Arctic region,” Steffen said.

Because of this, Arctic ice is ‘melting much faster’ than had previously been estimated.

“The upper range of sea level rise by 2100 might be above one metre or more on a global average, with large regional differences depending where the source of ice loss occurs.”

Dr Jason Lowe, head of the British Met Office’s sea level projection group, said a one metre sea level increase would be extremely serious.

He added that the effects would be ‘devastating’ if the rising sea levels were accompanied by a storm surge.

The ISCCC concluded that ‘rapid, sustained and effective’ action on climate change is needed immediately if the most destructive and dangerous consequences are to be avoided.