China’s double threat: Shanghai sinks as sea level rises fastest in 4,000 years

Shanghai is sinking while the world’s sea levels are rising fast – the fastest in 4,000 years – possibly threatening the Chinese financial hub and the global supply chain, scientists warn in a new study.

China faces a double threat from rising seas, according to the multinational team, as many of its largest and most economically important cities are concentrated in delta regions – flat lands close to water that were ideal for urban development but remain extremely vulnerable to flooding.

Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong are among key cities in delta regions, which are naturally prone to sinking because they were built on thick, soft sediment.

“It is extremely likely that the global mean sea-level rise rate since 1900 has exceeded any century over at least the past four millennia,” researchers from institutions in Britain, China and the United States wrote in an article published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature on Thursday. The average rate of the rise was around 1.5mm (0.6 inch) a year.

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“Our analysis indicates that at least 94 per cent of rapid modern urban subsidence is attributable to anthropogenic [human-induced] activities, with localised subsidence rates often exceeding global mean sea-level rise,” the scientists said.

South China Morning Post