Climate Action

These are the cities that will be most affected by rising sea levels

Joe Myers
Writer, Forum Agenda

A new report from Climate Central has named the cities most at risk from rising sea levels, and compared the effects of 4 and 2 degrees Celsius increases.

The chart show the cities where the greatest number of people will be affected by rising sea levels – based on 2010 populations and Climate Central sea level rise predictions for 2 degrees Celsius and 4 degrees Celsius increases.

1511B32-cities rising sea levels shanghai dhaka

With a 2 degree rise, 11.6 million people in Shanghai live below the locked-in sea level rise, but with a 4 degree rise this nearly doubles to 22.4 million – some 76% of the 2010 population.

Locked-in rise refers to the sea-level rise already in progress because of historic carbon emissions.

Tianjin is next based on a 4 degree rise – here 12.4 million people live below expected sea levels while Dhaka has 12.3 million people at risk.

The full report shows that the 20 cities most at risk are all in Asia.

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Author: Joe Myers is a Digital Content Producer at Formative Content.

Image: A man looks at the Pudong financial district of Shanghai November 20, 2013. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

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