This satellite image produced by Nasa shows what St. Maarten will look like 20 to 50 years from now. The airport is gone, as is Simpson Bay. The Lowlands have become a separate island. Image courtesy Nature Foundation
GREAT BAY – Between twenty and fifty years from now Philipsburg, the Princess Juliana International Airport and all of the island’s beaches will have disappeared completely under water, if the current estimated rise of the sea level continues. This appears from a report about the effects of climate change on the marine and coastal zones of St. Maarten, published by the Nature Foundation.
The rising sea levels also threaten large parts of Simpson Bay and Cole Bay. “For St. Maarten climate change will bring with it serious consequences,” the report states, adding that this is in particular due to rising sea levels, ocean acidification, invasive species and coral bleaching. The Nature Foundation projects disastrous effects on the country’s eco systems, but landlubbers will also feel the effect.
“Areas such as Simpson Bay, Great Bay, Marigot, the cruise facilities, areas of Sucker Garden, Cole Bay, Sandy Ground, Oyster pond and all the beaches will be inundated by sea level rise,” the report states.
Sea level rise threatens coral reefs, coastal wetlands and beaches. According to the report, these are “crucial habitats for many species, such as endangered populations of sea turtles that use them for breeding.”
Bio-constructions like reefs are “extremely vulnerable to water-level changes and to wave-erosion during major storms,” the report further ore points out. The rising temperature of the oceans in combination with rising sea levels and higher acidity “appear to be associated with various changes in biodiversity in the Caribbean Sea and thus also for St. Maarten’s coastal zone and the Man of War Shoal Marine Park protected area,” the report notes.
The Nature Foundation describes its report as a revised climate-change action plan. It outlines specific control methods to combat the effects of climate change to the coastal and near-shore environments.
The foundation compiled the new report because data from various international sources suggest that the melting of the West Antarctic icecap “will have significant impact on coastal communities around the world, including those in the Caribbean.”
Despite its challenges, the report concludes, St. Maarten has a range of options for mitigating the effects of climate change and for adapting to that change. These options focus however mainly on the protection of ecosystems, not on saving the airport or Philipsburg. For terrestrial zones these options includes maintaining vegetation along beaches and the coast to create natural shade, reusing and recycling waste. Another suggestion is “to incorporate climate change considerations into the planning of infrastructure maintenance and replacement,” and furthermore “to minimize coastal modifications to retain natural habitats that protect eater and species and regulate local climate.”
“As a small island developing state, St. Maarten is particularly vulnerable to climate change, climate variability and sea-level rise,” the Nature Foundation concludes in a press release. “The population of small islands like ours tends to have their population and infrastructure concentrated in the coastal zone and any rise in sea-level will have significant and profound effects on the economy and on living conditions.”
Download the complete report from www.naturefoundationsxm.org
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