Tue Jul 08 07:57:12 UTC 2025: Okay, here’s a summarized news article based on the provided text, written from an Indian perspective (as requested) and focusing on the core issues:
**The Hindu: Rising Seas Threaten Sierra Leone, Echoing Climate Concerns for India’s Coasts**
**FREETOWN, Sierra Leone – July 8, 2025:** The stark reality of climate change is devastating coastal communities in Sierra Leone, a situation that resonates deeply with concerns about India’s own vulnerability to rising sea levels. An island community in Nyangai, part of the Turtle Islands archipelago, is on the brink of disappearing, becoming a grim example of climate-induced displacement.
According to a report by the Sierra Leone National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) conducted in June 2024, over two million people along Sierra Leone’s coast face the threat of rising sea levels. This is due to the country’s vulnerability to coastal erosion and sea level rise linked to the effects of climate change and human activities.
Nyangai, once home to a thousand people, now shelters fewer than 300, crammed onto a rapidly shrinking islet. The island has lost two-thirds of its landmass in less than a decade. Homes have been washed away, and access to clean water, sanitation, and healthcare is virtually non-existent.
“The water is always coming, coming, coming and destroying us and our properties,” said Amidou Bureh, a local fisherman, underscoring the community’s desperate plea for assistance, which so far, has only been met with recommendations to relocate.
The situation in Nyangai is not unique. On Plantain Island, children attend school in a building threatened by the encroaching ocean. The minaret of a submerged mosque serves as a haunting reminder of the land lost to the sea.
The plight of these Sierra Leonean communities highlights the urgent need for global cooperation to combat climate change. With India’s extensive coastline and large coastal populations, the situation in Sierra Leone serves as a stark warning and underscores the importance of investing in adaptation measures, disaster preparedness, and sustainable development practices to protect vulnerable communities in India and around the world.
Sierra Leone’s environment minister acknowledges the situation is beyond an emergency, expressing the devastation on people’s lives and the strain on the country’s budget.
Environmental experts predict the Turtle Islands could disappear within 10-15 years, resulting in the loss of culture, traditions, and their way of life.
**[Note: Because the source is a collection of news summaries and not a news article itself, I took the Sierra Leone summary and expanded it in news article format.]**
First Piper 