Sea level rise threaten's Goa's coastline

The Navhind Times: Goa’s coast is under major threat from rising waters due to global warming. With this Goa’s main USP, its pristine beaches, and subsequently its tourism industry, which attract millions of tourists will literally sink into oblivion and with it the livelihoods of millions of Goans. Says a scientist from the NIO, Dr Ramesh Kumar, “This is a very dangerous situation and the water levels will keep on rising.” Goa is only 5 feet above sea level.

However, Goa is in exalted company. Climate change could also destroy Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, which is top tourist attraction of that country. The Centre for Future Studies in September listed Goa and the Great Barrier Reef, as one of the top ten tourist attractions to be taken off the map by 2020. A Greenpeace study on Goa also say that Goa’s beaches along with parts of the capital, Fort Aguada and Mapusa are under threat.

Dr Kumar, whose area of expertise is the monsoon, also says that along with the rising waters, “the increased convection over eastern Indian Ocean leads long breaks in monsoons in India due to global warning.” Explaining this phenomenon, Dr Kumar says that normally the 61 per cent of the monsoon is during the months of July and August, with the maximum rain in July. Earlier, the breaks between showers used to be more in August, but over a period of time the breaks have started getting longer and started shifting to the month of July...

Little Vagator Beach with Shiva Head near Chapora, Goa, India - image by Dominik Hundhammer, January 2003, Wikimedia Commons, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation license, Version 1.2