21 Nov 2008 - 19:00 GB Mean Sea Level: A film by Pradip Saha Around 7500 Kms from the heart of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC] in Geneva or the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change [UNFCCC] secretariat in Bonn, Ghoramara and Sagar islands are going through their own testimony of climate change related phenomena. 'Mean Sea Level' takes us through the story of the inhabitants of these small islands at the southern tip of the Indo-Gangetic Delta. Almost 7000 inhabitants have been forced to leave Ghoramara in the last 30 years, as the island has become half in size. The biggest island, Sagar which hosted refugees from other islands all these years is witnessing massive erosion now. 70000 people in the 9 sea-facing islands are at the edge of losing land in next 15 years. For these people climate change is real. Rising Sea level, 2mm a year is resulting in daily insecurity for home and livelihoods. Experience of this new breed of climate refugees are a little different from simplistic explanation of sea level rise that will cover their islands with water. The rivers in this delta have to meet the sea at a higher level and they need extra space to hold the water. These rivers break islands 24/7 to create the extra space. People face a constant loss of their land and home to erosion, and keep on moving inside the islands till there is no space. Sheikh Lalmohan lost his home in an island Lohachara 18 years ago, and lives in a refugee camp in Sagar island. Kavita Shil keeps on moving her house inside island in Ghoramara as the water eats up her house. All these happened while we debated climate change. There is a greater irony. These poor people got nothing out of the economy that created climate change, nor do they contribute to global warming. 'Mean Sea Level' is a testimony of reckless political economy of our times. Climate change is real, and only a sign of our recklessness. The film will be screened at the Khalili Auditorium, SOAS, Russell Square Campus on November 21st, 2008 at 7 pm. It will be followed by a question and answer session with Pradip.
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This film isn't sponsored by Al Gore by any chance is it?
5 mins on google threw up the following
http://www.nowpublic.com/bogus_global_warming_story_lohachara_island
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3102948.stm
note the diference in regional and global rises in this one
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/10/asia/india.php
And finally
http://forums.randi.org/archive/index.php/t-112322.html
Which contains the entry:
"http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008...india.flooding (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/30/india.flooding)
Quote:
Time runs out for islanders on global warming's front line
Lohachara island, once visible from Ghoramara, a mile to the east, is already gone beneath the waves, succumbing to the ocean two years ago, leaving more than 7,000 people homeless. Ghoramara itself has lost a third of its land mass in the past five years. To the north, Sagar island already houses 20,000 refugees from the tides.
According to the geologist Sugata Hazra, who is the director of the School of Oceanography Studies at Kolkata's Jadavpur University, the people of the Sundarbans are the first global-warming refugees.
He said: 'These people are victims of global warming. The accelerated melt of the Himalayan glacier is producing larger volumes of water in the rivers, water that violently carves its way through the flat delta where they live. The Sundarbans and the four million people who inhabit the Indian side are dreadfully vulnerable. The area has lost 72 square miles of land in the past few decades. This entire region is holding back a disaster and could ultimately serve as a warning of what is to come.'
Very interesting, thanks. It would appear this is a clear example of scare tactics in the media. I say this after examining a bit of the science, but others have done so. Not only Desmogblog but Tim Lamberg also say this isn't an example of global warming but sensational and irresponsible reporting.
Unbelievable-something I agree with them on!
Tim Lambert (bold mine) -
Did Global Warming claim an inhabited island? (http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2006/12/did_global_warming_claim_an_in.php) Category: Global Warming (http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/global_warming)
Posted on: December 31, 2006 10:09 AM, by Tim Lambert (http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid)
"... sea level rise was just one of the factors. And sea level rise can also be caused by land sinking as well as the ocean rising. I found a scientific paper (http://www.springerlink.com/content/u80t675421l38048) on the topic by Gopinath and Seralathan in Environmental Geology. (Yes, the same journal that published Khilyuk and Chilingar (http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2006/12/paper_claims_human_co2_emissio.php)'s tripe.) Gopinath and Seralathan studied Sagar island which is just 1 km from where Lohachara used to be, so their conclusions apply to Lohachara as well. They found that reduced flows in the river were causing sediments to be deposited further upstream instead of replacing erosion at Sagar island. Furthermore, the major cause of the relative sea level rise which made for more erosion, was land subsidence, not global warming.
So it is wrong to blame Global Warming for the disappearance of Lohachara island."
"
This film sounds very much like a poorly researched human interest story that's jumped on a bandwagon to try to secure aid for those unfortunate enough to live there. Just to be clear, getting them help is a good thing, but promoting alarmism by tugging on heartstrings and feelings of guilt isn't.
Incidently has anyone else noticed a drop in the scientific output from the pro-AGW camp and an increase in the "scare" stories lately, or is that just me?