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2010-03-25 11:55:08
By NIRMALA GEORGE, Associated Press Writer Nirmala George, Associated Press
Writer Wed Mar 24, 9:29 am ET
NEW DELHI For nearly 30 years, India and Bangladesh have argued over control
of a tiny rock island in the Bay of Bengal. Now rising sea levels have resolved
the dispute for them: the island's gone.
New Moore Island in the Sunderbans has been completely submerged, said
oceanographer Sugata Hazra, a professor at Jadavpur University in Calcutta. Its
disappearance has been confirmed by satellite imagery and sea patrols, he said.
"What these two countries could not achieve from years of talking, has been
resolved by global warming," said Hazra.
Scientists at the School of Oceanographic Studies at the university have noted
an alarming increase in the rate at which sea levels have risen over the past
decade in the Bay of Bengal.
Until 2000, the sea levels rose about 3 millimeters (0.12 inches) a year, but
over the last decade they have been rising about 5 millimeters (0.2 inches)
annually, he said.
Another nearby island, Lohachara, was submerged in 1996, forcing its
inhabitants to move to the mainland, while almost half the land of Ghoramara
island was underwater, he said. At least 10 other islands in the area were at
risk as well, Hazra said.
"We will have ever larger numbers of people displaced from the Sunderbans as
more island areas come under water," he said.
Bangladesh, a low-lying delta nation of 150 million people, is one of the
countries worst-affected by global warming. Officials estimate 18 percent of
Bangladesh's coastal area will be underwater and 20 million people will be
displaced if sea levels rise 1 meter (3.3 feet) by 2050 as projected by some
climate models.
India and Bangladesh both claimed the empty New Moore Island, which is about
3.5 kilometers (2 miles) long and 3 kilometers (1.5 miles) wide. Bangladesh
referred to the island as South Talpatti.
There were no permanent structures on New Moore, but India sent some
paramilitary soldiers to its rocky shores in 1981 to hoist its national flag.
The demarcation of the maritime boundary and who controls the remaining
islands remains an open issue between the two South Asian neighbors, despite
the disappearance of New Moore, said an official in India's foreign ministry,
who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on
international disputes.
Bangladesh officials were not available for comment Wednesday.