Columbian city drowning in rising Caribbean

From an article by Mario Osava posted on IPS News:

CARTAGENA, Colombia, Nov 24 (IPS) - The sea encroaching on the streets of this Caribbean resort city in northern Colombia dramatically underlines the challenges that 60 journalists, winners of awards from the Latin American Avina foundation, discussed over the weekend.

The award money is to be used for reporting or making documentaries on sustainable development.

In spite of the lack of rain or other exceptional circumstances, some 50 metres of the street were under water in front of the Almirante Estelar Hotel, where the 2nd Meeting of Investigative Journalism for Sustainable Development, sponsored by Avina, was being held.

Two participants at the meeting were unable to visit the historic centre of the city on the morning of Nov. 21. The avenue they had to take from the hotel's Bocagrande neighbourhood was flooded with water and impassable for cars.

Cartagena appears doomed to be one of the first victims of the rise in ocean levels due to global warming.

The lowest-lying streets of Bocagrande, a narrow strip of land covered with tall buildings and modern hotels that projects into the sea, are already under water when the tide is in.

The Netherlands Climate Assistance Program has a detailed discussion on Cartagena's vulnerability to the rise in sea level.