UN's Guterres issues 'global SOS' over fast-rising Pacific ocean

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres voiced a global climate "SOS" at a Pacific islands summit on Tuesday, unveiling research that shows the region's seas rising much more swiftly than global averages. Surrounded by millions of square miles of tropical ocean, the South Pacific is uniquely threatened by sea-level rise.

Sparsely populated and with few heavy industries, the Pacific islands collectively pump out less than 0.02 percent of global emissions every year.Rising seas are swallowing up scarce land and tainting vital food and water sources. Warmer waters are also fuelling more intense natural disasters, while ocean acidification slowly kills the reefs that nourish key marine food chains.