Climate & Health

Malta elevates sea level rise on the world's peace and security agenda

The tiny island nation made the case that more attention must be focused on the threat of rising sea levels and gaps in international law about how to handle the loss of land.

, and John Heilprin

February 14, 2023 . 2:01 PM

3 min read

Valletta, the island nation of Malta’s walled capital city, was built on a peninsula between two harbors (AN/Roxana Crusemire/Unsplash)

Earth's warming is tipped to submerge low-lying coastal communities and islands, including parts of the Maltese archipelago – imperiling entire nations this century.

That's a climate risk that the small island nation in the Mediterranean Sea highlighted on Tuesday as part of its U.N. Security Council presidency this month. The position passes among the council's 15 members on a month-to-month basis.