Dear Editor,
Imagine the government and City Council are squabbling over a tract of land, which, if scientific modelling and prediction is correct, may not even exist in the near future due to global warming and rising sea levels. Stabroek News, dated November 19, 2021, carried an article “Guyana risks losing 53 metres of shoreline, 65 metres sandy beaches by 2050” which reported on a study carried by the World Bank highlighting Caribbean countries most vulnerable to the current climate trend and rising sea levels. Guyana was cited as the most vulnerable.
Kaieteur News, dated November 7, 2021, had an even more dire heading titled “Georgetown among 9 cities forecast to be under water by 2030 – Climate Central”. In this article it stated that “It was reported that the area that is projected to be under water by 2030 is where 90 percent of Guyana’s population resides.” This doomsday prediction is less than 5 years away!!!
So amidst these warnings that our coastline may be flooded in this present generation, there is a royal squabble for a plot of land which is right on the boundary of our coastline and which will certainly fall within the areas of prediction of flooding as defined by scientific research and data.
Rather than fighting over such lands, our leaders should be aggressively pushing for long term development in areas outside of the zone of potential land loss due to ocean encroachment
Sincerely,
M. Abraham
