Indonesia`s low lying islets may disappear by 2030

Batam (ANTARA News) - Islets in Kepulauan Riau (Kepri) province may disappear by 2030 due to global warming and sand quarrying, an official has said.

"The islets lie 0.5 meter below sea level," Herry, the head of the Batam chapter of Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, said here.

Quoting a World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report, he said the increase in global temperature by 1 degree Celsius since 1866 had melted the snow mountain in the North Pole, covering some of low-lying areas in the world.

"The islets in Kepri which lie below sea level may disappear in the future," he said.

However, he declined to mention the name of the islets.

Meanwhile, Jaya Murjaya, the head of the Yogyakarta chapter of Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, had predicted Indonesia might lose about 2,000 of its islets by 2030 because of rising sea water level.

"By 2030 sea water level will rise in the range of 8 cm to 29 cm from the current level," he said adding that the accumulation of gas emissions and ozone depletion had contributed to a rise in global temperature.

The global warming might lead to extreme climate change also, he said.