14 DAY TRIAL // United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon argued the necessity of sustained international efforts towards averting global warming, especially now, when the state of the world economy is in a pretty rough shape and most governments are too concerned with their own problems to care about what's happening with the fish, birds, animals, forests and even countries worldwide.
One of the nations that stand to lose most from global warming and rising sea levels is Bangladesh, a developing country that is already struck by poverty and hunger. Ban visited Dhaka, the capital city, this weekend and inspected the preparations that the nation was undergoing to prevent catastrophes from occurring throughout its land area.
Bangladesh was severely affected by two floods in October-November of last year and, again, by super cyclone Sidr, on November 15th, 2007. The death roll rose to about 5,000 people, with 2 million displaced from their homes. Regardless of their daily hardships, the people of Bangladesh are against climate change completely, and take concrete actions in that direction, including running their buses on gas instead of oil and walking to get around the town, instead of using a car.
They know that, if the sea levels rise by only one meter (3 feet), about 30 million people will be displaced. That's why authorities already began fortifying the city of Dhaka with walls and water pumps, so as to minimize potential flood damages. Ban said that similar efforts needed to be undertaken by all countries that had large cities neighboring oceans or seas.
Water level rise seems impossible to stop, so oceanologists say that authorities should prepare themselves for dealing with emergency situations at a moment's notice. Melting glaciers also pose a threat to water supplies and electricity-generating capabilities of multiple nations. The only possible solution is to stop the heating of the planet, by cutting carbon emissions and trapping the ones already in the sky.