New York, London, Hong Kong business hubs to submerge by 2100?

Experts have warned that without efforts to curb the rise of greenhouse gases, the polar ice caps may melt far faster under the pressure of global warming than it was previously thought, threatening island states and coastal cities.

The world’s ice sheets could retreat farther by the year 2100 than they have in the past 130,000 years, leading to a huge rise in sea level, experts say adding, low-lying islands such as Tuvalu and the Maldives look set to disappear. Coastal cities will be forced to beef up their defences or else think about relocating.

The financial districts of London, New York and Hong Kong to name but three, lie barely above sea level, a report in the Nature magazine claims.