Australia is a continent. There are places inland for their citizens to retreat to. For tiny island S'pore it is a deathtrap as sea level rises. The govt's S$750M war fund to combat floods & mandating future land reclamations be 2.25m above highest recorded high tide is just a temporary measure to stave off the inevitable.
Extracts from: Sea rise threatens paradise Down Under
3 neighbors have already lost their homes to the rising ocean & there are scores more at risk as roaring seas batter the idyllic beachside town, ploughing through 131 feet of foredune in just 8 years.
"I wanted water frontage, and frontage I'm going to get," Pearce joked.
Property values have dived along her once exclusive cul-de-sac, with homes once worth Aus$1.5 or Aus$2 million (US$1.5 million or $2 million) now abandoned & offered for Aus$300,000. Weathered 'For Sale' signs dot the sidewalk.
What is happening down under will happen to tiny island S'pore especially even tinier Sentosa island's $M waterfront homes eventually becoming worthless.
Sinkies buying exorbitant hdb thinking can monetise for retirement as per govt propaganda are living in fairyland. Mother of all crisis- Climate Crisis will put it at severe risk.
S'pore's once revered old politician said that property prices will always go up. Relentless rising prices have indeed made more & more people mortgage slaves but how can prices keep going up when the country is going to be submerged by seawaters?
Is sickening that S'pore's incumbent ruling party 's obsession is growing gdp at all costs like cancer. Grow like cancer also shiok(feels wonderful). Unsustainable. There are limits to growth. If every govt on Earth has same cancer-like-approach (massive influx to boost population & thus boost consumption) to grow the economy, humanity's fate is pretty much game over.
Even with a 50cm sea-level rise the government has warned that severe weather events currently considered to be once in a century, such as the major flooding of Brisbane in 2010, would happen several times a year by 2100.
Sound familiar? Our previous environment minister said a very similar thing about flooding in prime shopping belt Orchard Road occuring once in 50 years but instead Mother Nature unleashed more than the old assumption.
Major cities were expected to face profound challenges from erosion & inundation, with the government warning in a 2009 report that Sydney's airport faced closure in the next 100 years due to its low-lying waterfront location.
Ports, hospitals, power stations & other critical infrastructure were also deemed to be at risk.
What about S'pore's Changi airport & plans for terminal 4? I believe is same fate. From east coast to Changi area is low-lying as well.
England said Australia "certainly stands to be hit with massive increased costs" from sea level rise, with 85% of its population living near the coast & insurance & liability battles already looming in the courts.
100% of sinkies living in tiny island S'pore......
"And we're only at the very start of the projected trend from human-induced climate change."
The residents of Old Bar are banking on a government lifeline to help them build a Aus$10 million artificial reef offshore to protect their dwindling beach.
For her part, Pearce has little doubt about the cause: "Climate change. It's worldwide, isn't it."
Artificial coral reef offshore to protect S'pore's beach? Aint gonna happen since S'pore is a major port.
Is going to get worse in the future with 2+billion consumers from China & India with their carbon footprint. As Al Gore explains in the below 2.5min video the melting & subsequent sea level rise will speed up more & more......
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