India and Bangladesh have argued over control of a tiny rock island in the Bay of Bengal since the time of India’s independence and subsequent partition….
Now rising sea levels have resolved the dispute for them permanently.
The disputed island is gone.
Disappeared.
Completely covered by the sea.
Maybe another positive effect of global warming…
New Moore Island in the Sunderbans has been completely submerged, said oceanographer Sugata Hazra, a professor at Jadavpur University in Calcutta. Its disappearance has been confirmed by satellite imagery and sea patrols.
“What these two countries could not achieve from years of talking, has been resolved by global warming,” said Hazra.
Scientists at the School of Oceanographic Studies at the university have noted an alarming increase in the rate at which sea levels have risen over the past decade in the Bay of Bengal.
Until 2000, the sea levels rose about 3 millimeters (0.12 inches) a year, but over the last decade they have been rising about 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) annually, he said.
Another nearby island, Lohachara, was submerged in 1996, forcing its inhabitants to move to the mainland, while almost half the land of Ghoramara island was underwater, he said. At least 10 other islands in the area were at risk as well, Hazra said.
“We will have ever larger numbers of people displaced from the Sunderbans as more island areas come under water,” he said.
Bangladesh is a low-lying country populated at the river delta with more than 150 million people. The majority are living in this low-lying delta, and is one of the countries worst-affected by global warming. Officials estimate 18 – 30% percent of Bangladesh’s coastal area will be underwater and 20 – 50 million people will be displaced if sea levels rise 1 meter (3.3 feet) by 2050 as projected by most warming climate models.
India is building a giant wall along it’s border, to prevent Bangladeshi people from seeking shelter in the Indian territory when the water levees break…
This wall is the shame of India and it has been criticized widely internationally.
