Global leaders met on the margins of the General Assembly’s annual general debate to hold a high-level meeting today on addressing the existential threats posed by rising sea levels, as speakers called for urgent action to protect States most severely affected by this phenomenon.
While sea level rise has been on the UN agenda for decades, the General Assembly convened its first high-level meeting on this topic in 2024. Two years later, today’s meeting saw delegates approve a draft UN Declaration on Sea Level Rise with a view to send it to the Assembly for formal adoption. The document emphasizes the importance of leveraging knowledge and adaptation measures to protect livelihoods and ensure legal certainty for those affected.
“Rising seas are sinking futures,” stated UN Secretary-General António Guterres, as he introduced his report on the issue, which shows that the global sea level rose by six millimetres in 2024 — the highest annual increase ever recorded. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that, even in the “best-case scenario”, sea levels are projected to rise by half a metre by 2100, he noted.
“Without significant adaptation and mitigation, the risks facing coastal cities and communities could increase tenfold,” he stated, characterizing sea level rise as a “threat multiplier”. He added: “This is climate injustice — those who did least to cause this crisis pay the highest price.”
He went on to present the responsive actions outlined in his report, which spanned three fronts: tackling the root causes, protecting people from rising waters and closing legal gaps. Stressing that “every overshoot of the 1.5ºC limit must be as small and short as possible”, he added: “The Group of 20 must lead, and COP31 [the 2026 UN Climate Change Conference] in Türkiye must deliver.”
Commending Member States for negotiating the Declaration, he urged them to also build on the Agreement on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction, which has recently reached 100 signatories. He emphasized: “Sea level rise is measured in millimetres, but its toll is measured in millions of shattered lives.”
“Sea level rise does not respect borders,” added Khalilur Rahman (Bangladesh), President of the General Assembly at its eighty-first session. Further, countries with the fewest resources and the least capacity to adapt, relocate and rebuild are often those facing the greatest risks. Urging more prevention and preparedness, he said that “they are among the most cost-effective, humane and responsible investments we can make”.
The issue is no longer whether solutions exist; rather, it is whether they are available to those who need them most, he emphasized, calling for adequate resources for the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, as well as debt solutions. Ultimately, “sea level rise is about people — about our heritage, our identity and the world we leave to our children”, he said.
Affected States Detail Scope of Threat, Insist on Legal Certainty
“For States that are literally defined by the ocean around us, the impact of sea level rise will be life-altering,” said Surangel Whipps, Jr., President of Palau, speaking for the Alliance of Small Island States. Noting that these States’ people, cultures and ecosystems are under threat, he underscored: “The climate crisis is not of our making.” Yet, it “threatens our culture, our heritage, our identities”, concurred Feleti Penitala Teo, Prime Minister of Tuvalu, welcoming the Declaration as fundamental to his country’s future.
For his part, Jamaica’s representative, speaking for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), welcomed the Declaration’s recognition of the stability of maritime zones and the continuity of Statehood notwithstanding climate-induced sea level rise. These, he stressed, are safeguards for sovereignty, security, livelihoods and identity. Similarly, Romania’s representative underlined the importance of establishing legal certainty: “We believe that legal predictability is the ultimate safeguard for all nations, large and small.”
“The choices we make today will shape the scale of sea level rise for generations,” said the representative of the European Union, speaking for its Member States. Noting that the bloc is strengthening climate resilience trough the European Ocean Pact and through strategies for islands and coastal communities, he, too, stressed that “legal certainty, stability and predictability must remain at the heart of the collective response”.
Speakers Stress that Declaration Must Herald Further Action
Also welcoming the Declaration was Francisco Carvalho, Prime Minister of Cabo Verde, who said that its consensual approval conveys a message of hope and attests that multilateralism still works. “The Declaration is a critical one, but it must not be the last work done by this body,” urged Aren Palik, Vice-President of the Federated States of Micronesia. Nevertheless, he emphasized that, today, for the first time, the UN addressed sea level rise “squarely”.
And this challenge — not simply environmental, but developmental, economic and humanitarian — demands collective action, stressed Godwin Friday, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. “Let this Declaration turn commitment into financing, vulnerability into resilience and solidarity into action,” urged Deogratius Ndejembi, Vice-President of the United Republic of Tanzania. Iceland’s representative agreed: “The present Declaration is a milestone, but it is not the finish line.”
Many speakers today felt similarly. “We cannot address what cannot be measured,” observed Hussain Mohamed Latheef, Vice-President of Maldives, underlining the need to establish a mechanism with which to monitor sea level rise. For his part, Namibia’s representative called for “a more ambitious, equitable and adequate global financial response”, in which the greatest contributors to climate change scale up support for those who are least responsible for the phenomenon.
Urging States to minimize their carbon footprints and facilitate concessional lending, James Marape, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea stressed: “Support the Pacific Resilience Fund, and we will help ourselves.” Australia’s representative, commending the region’s leaders for “not waiting to be spoken for”, observed: “No region has done more to bring the world’s attention to the issue of sea level rise than the Pacific.”
Recalling that Pacific leaders have sounded the alarm for more than three decades, the representative of the Marshall Islands noted that the Declaration shows that Pacific voices have helped shape the global response. The representative of the Republic of Korea urged States to listen to those “on the front lines”. Seoul has tracked sea level change using data at over 20 tide-gauge stations for the past 36 years, he said, expressing readiness to share this experience and technical expertise. He added: “The ocean works as one. We must also act as one.”
Those with Expertise and Money Must Do Their Part
In that vein, many developed countries offered to share knowledge and pledged resources to address global challenges. The representative of the Netherlands said that his country stands ready to share its knowledge of water management, coastal protection and freshwater security. He warned: “The sea is patient — it takes a little more each year. And what it takes, it does not easily return. We cannot afford to be patient.”
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom’s representative, recognizing the importance of the legal dimension, spotlighted a recent policy change by which London recognizes Statehood even if a State has lost some or all of its land to sea level rise. In addition, he highlighted the £330 million pledged by his Foreign Secretary to the ninth replenishment of the Global Environment Facility.
Norway’s delegate, noting his country’s “strong record on responsible resource management and investment in sustainable ocean economy”, noted that his country prioritizes investment in knowledge and data to address the issue. He encouraged other countries to do the same. For his part, Costas Kadis, European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, spotlighted the recent launch of the OceanEye International Alliance to support ocean observation and noted that 30 countries pledged $250 million to that end.
However, the representative of Cuba expressed concern about the negative trends in mobilization and provision of climate finance by developed countries, stressing that “industrialized countries are the main culprits of climate change, and they should pay the climate debt”. He said that it is impossible to combat climate change unless the international order is changed.
Collective Action Urgently Needed to Address a Global Problem
Urging “real international partnership”, Yemen’s representative stressed that “adaptation is not an option that can be postponed for the least developed countries”. Peru’s representative, stating that sea level rise is “a global challenge that demands a collective response”, called for “more cooperation, more financing, more science and more protection for the most vulnerable communities”.
Several landlocked countries also took the floor today, demonstrating that oceanic changes have consequences that extend beyond coastal States. “What happens to the world’s oceans affects our high-altitude wetlands, our seasonal rainfall and the health of our water networks,” noted the representative of Lesotho. Underlining the importance of multilateral cooperation, he agreed with others that today’s Declaration must prioritize accessible climate finance, data-driven decision-making and systemic resilience.
And spotlighting the human dimension in all this was Mexico’s representative, who asked: “How do we protect not just our territory, but communities, cultures and the ways of life that give meaning to this territory?” Underscoring that “what is being lost cannot be measured merely in square kilometres”, he pointed to the need for a human-centred response to sea level rise that prioritizes the human rights of people in vulnerable situations.