Global Warming, Melting Ice Caps and Rising Sea Levels: Impact on Singapore and the Region

Robert Swan, OBE, is the world’s first person to walk to both the North and South Poles. Robert's Antarctic expeditions helped shape his life goal: to ensure the preservation of Antarctica, the Earth’s last great wilderness. Since 2003, Robert has led annual expeditions to Antarctica with students and business executives to heighten awareness of the Antarctic and build advocacy to ensure its survival as a wilderness. Robert’s talks are thrilling, uplifting and stimulating – all while fostering courage, vision and teamwork. His core themes are inspiration, leadership and future thinking for business, society and the environment.

Sea levels are rising due to melting ice sheets and warming oceans. The rate at which sea level is rising is accelerating primarily due to melting ice. Globally, most estimates suggest that sea level could rise by another metre or more by the end of this century. If all the Earth's land ice were to melt, our oceans would rise by more than 60m. So what would this mean for Asia's coastlines? By the end of the century coasts in Asia will no doubt be pushed inland, threatening the long term existence of major cities such as Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh, Singapore, Jakarta and Manila. Sea level rise is also compounded by subsidence and increases the threat of tsunamis and storm surges. It is very likely that land that is currently home to more 700 million people in Asia will be lost to the sea, forcing coastal populations to retreat inland, leaving behind some of the continent's largest and most prosperous cities to be flooded by the ocean.