With Rising Seas at Their Door, Mayors Vow to Combat Climate Change

Mayors of cities from Lisbon to New Orleans called on Thursday for urgent global action to tackle climate change that could see hundreds of coastal metropolises swamped with water.

The C40 World Mayors Summit in Copenhagen gathered leaders of 94 world cities that are home to more than 700 million people and represent one quarter of the global economy.

Their meeting comes a month after a United Nations study delivered a stark warning to the world: slash emissions or watch cities vanish under rising seas, rivers run dry, and marine life collapse.

“The Gulf of Mexico is now at our front door,” New Orleans mayor LaToya Contrell told a news conference.  “While the sea level is rising, we’re also sinking, and we are losing a football field every 100 minutes.”

She later told Reuters it would require “billions of dollars” to not only drain the city on the Mississippi River, but also collect and hold water to keep it from running into the drains immediately.

Read more at With Rising Seas at Their Door, Mayors Vow to Combat Climate Change