Article

2007-05-17 Southeast Asia

Indonesia counts its islands before it`s too late

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Posted by ryuge 2007-05-17 10:32|| || Front Page|| [10 views ] Top

#1 Indonesia's environment minister Rachmat Witoelar in January said the country could lose about 2,000 islands by 2030 if sea levels continued to rise.

World sea levels are likely to rise by up to 59 cms (23.2 inches) by 2100 and bigger gains cannot be ruled out if ice in Greenland and Antarctica thaws, the U.N. climate panel said in February.

"Island states are very vulnerable to sea level rise and very vulnerable to storms. Indonesia with 17,000 islands of course is particularly vulnerable," he said on a recent visit to Jakarta.

Of course, if "Global Warming" triggers another Ice Age as the GW true believers posit, then sea levels could drop by 600 feet.

Posted by RWV 2007-05-17 11:56|| 2007-05-17 11:56|| Front Page Top

#2 An island that would disappear with a two foot rise in sea level likely isn't fairing too well under choppy surf conditions now. How many of those are actually inhabited by people?

Posted by trailing wife 2007-05-17 13:11|| 2007-05-17 13:11|| Front Page Top

#3 I wonder what a map of the globe would've looked like at the height of the last ice age. Chicago was under a mile of ice, I believe.

Walk-across the Bering Strait, Japan connected to China, Garden of Eden above water in the Persian Gulf, Australia connected to ???

Posted by Bobby 2007-05-17 13:28|| 2007-05-17 13:28|| Front Page Top

#4 Villages built on stilts on underwater reefs are common in Indonesia, often quite far out to sea. I've read that they were responses to past sea level rises and built as the waters slowly rose. Otherwise it's difficult to see how they could have built them if the reef was already underwater.

Posted by phil_b 2007-05-17 19:23|| 2007-05-17 19:23|| Front Page Top

#5 But-t-t all humanity is supposed to be goners anywhere from 5 years from now [2012], to Yarn 2080 or 2090. Btwn Years 2025-2050, CHINA andor possibly INDIA will had overtaken the USA as the world's premier economy(s)??? GLOBAL WARMING > RACE TO MANKIND'S EXTINCTION [ D ***ng it, we wanna be extinct!].

Posted by JosephMendiola 2007-05-17 23:47|| 2007-05-17 23:47|| Front Page Top

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