Climate change raises Asia sea levels to dangerous limits

Tens of millions at risk of flooding on banks of Ganges and Yangtse

india flooding
(Image credit: Caisii Mao/AFP/Getty Images)

Climate change and increasing urbanisation could have a devastating effect on south-east Asia in the near future, with a study by the Asian Development Bank predicting that rising sea levels and severe flooding could claim the lives of as many as 137 million people.

Over the next 30 years, "it is projected that heavy rainfall events will be increasing... in Asia, by about 20 per cent for sure", Dewi Kirono, a climate scientist at Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, told CNN. Southern Asia is already one of the wettest regions in the world, receiving an average of at least 40ins of rainfall a year.

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