World Bank studies rising seas in Guyana - Reuters

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

World Bank studies rising seas in Guyana
Fri Oct 12, 2007 7:04pm EDT

By Lesley Wroughton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The World Bank and Global
Environmental Facility have approved $3.8 million in
grant funding to protect low-lying coastal areas in
Guyana threatened by rising sea levels, an official
said on Friday.

This is the first project of its kind to be approved
under the Global Environmental Facility's Special
Climate Change Fund. It will look at ways to improve
coastal drainage in the small South American country.

Gerald Meier, a consultant with the World Bank's
hazard risk management group, said the project was
responding to the catastrophic flooding in Guyana in
2005, which affected most of the inhabited northern
coast of the country where up to 90 percent of the
population lives.

-snip-

Meier said sea levels around Guyana have risen
about 1.7 feet since the 1950s, according to a tide
gauge.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN1225024920071012