Written by Captain Mahmoud Al Mahmoud
Look around you. There is an eerie future out there, but we are too wrapped up in our struggle with the present to recognize it. For example, sea level rise is one of the most serious effects of climate change.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that sea levels will continue to rise throughout this century, causing coastal areas to experience increasingly frequent and severe flooding.
There is no doubt that the lives and livelihoods of communities in many small island countries like Bahrain will be affected.
Five MPs and the Southern City Council have published a debate on precautions that should be taken to deal with the negative effects of sea level rise.
This follows recent moves to build taller retaining walls near coastlines to prevent coastal residential areas from flooding.
As the population expands and urbanization continues to accelerate over the next decade, pressure on Bahrain’s limited land resources is sure to increase.
Naturally, reclamation from the surrounding sea would offer one of the more expensive solutions, but here too reclamation would technically require new features that would have to characterize the land above sea level. You can see the regulations.
We are a land with a rich maritime history and close ties to the sea.
We must once again recognize the value of this bond, in order to rediscover respect for the ocean.
Of course, it is inevitable that we should look to land reclamation to achieve our urbanization goals in the coming years.
But we can certainly make it even stronger by not treating the ocean as a frivolous playground.
People are sinking old planes and used tires to the ocean floor and pretending they are replacing shattered coral reefs and miles of landfills.
Every quarter, Good Green Samaritans pick up tons of plastic, glass and trash from beaches to keep them clean.
These are sporadic acts and what we really need is a reconnection that will stop us from littering our beaches and seabeds with the garbage of 21st century life.
As climate change hits our world, let’s all do our part to check the damage.
Captain Mahmoud Al Mahmoud is editor-in-chief of the Daily Tribune and chairman of the Relief, Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism Organization of the Organization of Arab and African Unity.