Across Asia, up to a billion people could be adversely affected by climate change

Rising Seas, Melting Glaciers

Across Asia, up to a billion people could be adversely affected by climate change

Years ago, the temple Khun Samut Chin sat in the middle of a vibrant community, near a school, a clinic, homes, and farms. Today, the monks still live in the temple, but their only neighbors are the fish that swim in the Gulf of Thailand.

The temple juts dramatically out of the ocean on a spit of land in the gulf in Samut Prakarn province, a few hours south of Bangkok. The only access to the community that the monks serve, which has retreated to higher ground, is a rickety footbridge.

Electricity lines that were once on land now run through the ocean near the temple. Some parts of the village that once surrounded the temple are now 4 meters underwater.

“For now, we are holding back the ocean,” said a 40-year-old monk in the temple, as he watched workers carefully reinforce and raise a surrounding seawall. “For the future, we don’t know.”

Land subsidence is thought to be the principal reason behind the disappearance of the village, but the rise in sea level caused by climate change is an additional factor. Those who study the impact of global warming on Asia say the little village that once surrounded the Khun Samut Chin temple could be a glimpse into the future for much of the region.

“If the ocean comes to take the temple, then it will come,” said the monk philosophically. “We are not worried.”

Дата добавления: 2015-10-02