GLOBAL sea levels have risen faster since 1900 than ever before and their relentless increase puts countries such as Bangladesh, China, India and the Netherlands at risk, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has warned.

In a grim speech to the security council’s first-ever meeting on the threat to international peace and security posed by rising sea levels, Mr Guterres said on Tuesday that sea levels would rise significantly even if global warming was “miraculously” limited to 1.5°C.

He warned that the Earth is more likely on a path to warming that amounts to a death sentence for vulnerable countries, which include many small island nations.

In addition to the threatened countries, Mr Guterres said, “mega-cities on every continent will face serious effects, including Cairo, Lagos, Maputo, Bangkok, Dhaka, Jakarta, Mumbai, Shanghai, Copenhagen, London, Los Angeles, New York, Buenos Aires and Santiago.”

The UN secretary-general stressed that every fraction of a degree in global warming counts since the rise in sea levels could double if temperatures increase by 2°C and could rise exponentially with further temperature increases.

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) published data on Tuesday spelling out the grave danger of rising seas, Mr Guterres said.

“Global average sea levels have risen faster since 1900 than over any preceding century in the last 3,000 years,” he said. “The global ocean has warmed faster over the past century than at any time in the past 11,000 years.”

According to the data, the global mean sea level will rise by about two to three metres over the next 2,000 years if warming is limited to 1.5°C. But, with a 2°C increase, seas could rise up to six metres — and with a 5°C increase, seas could rise up to 22 metres, according to the WMO.

“Our world is hurtling past the 1.5°C warming limit that a liveable future requires and, with present policies, is careening towards 2.8°C: a death sentence for vulnerable countries,” Mr Guterres said.

Low-lying communities and entire countries could disappear, the world would witness a mass exodus of entire populations on a biblical scale and competition for fresh water, land and other resources would become ever fiercer.

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The security council meeting, organised by Malta, which holds the presidency this month, heard speakers from some 75 countries, large and small, endangered and landlocked, all voicing concern about the impact of the continuing rising seas on the future of the world — and for some, the survival of their own countries.

Samoa’s UN ambassador, Fatumanava-o-Upolu III Pa’olelei Luteru, speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States, which he chairs, told the council: “There is a litany of new examples of the sudden and slow onset impact of climate change on small islands, from king tides to super hurricanes to the unstoppable and unprecedented rise in sea levels.”

The impact on the people and economies of the islands will continue to be extraordinary, he said, putting in jeopardy their survival and continuation as states.

Alliance members “are among the lowest emitters of greenhouse gases that drive climate change and sea level rise. Yet, we face some of the most severe consequences of rising sea levels,” Mr Luteru pointed out.

“To expect small island state to shoulder the burden of sea level rise without assistance from the international community will be the pinnacle of inequities.”

He said that co-operation to address rising seas was a legal obligation for every country and that there was an urgent need for nations to fulfill their international commitments on climate change and finance.