Cartagena de Indias like Venice. On the Caribbean coast of Colombia, the historic colonial city, a UNESCO site, today a city of one million and the number 1 tourist destination in its country, lives with the small islands that surround it the slow but inexorable advancement of the southern edge of the Caribbean Sea. According to scientists, the whole thing could be submerged by the surrounding Atlantic Ocean by the end of the century.
There are countless warning signs. On the island of Tierra Bomba, located in front of the walls of Cartagena, water invaded an ancient cemetery last month, unearthing skeletons and skulls of the deceased. Mirla Aaron, one of the community leaders, 53, was shocked to discover the bones, which came from graves so old that no one came to collect them. In recent decades, the sea “has destroyed 250 houses in the community, the health clinic, the piers (…) it has submerged several community halls, the electrical infrastructure” and now the cemetery, she told the France Presse news agency .
The island of Tierra Bomba literally besieged by the waters of the Caribbean Sea (afp)
“Unfortunately, the island is the victim of an erosion process that has increased exponentially in recent decades – explains Aaron – Cartagena is sinking!”. The gravity of the situation was definitively confirmed by a study published a couple of years ago in the scientific journal Nature , which had a great impact on local public opinion. According to this study, since the beginning of the 21st century, the sea level around Cartagenea has risen on average by 7.02 millimeters per year, compared to the average 2.9 recorded at The reason is the well-known one, the warming that affects the entire planet, due to the emission of greenhouse gases, and the consequent melting of the ice, particularly those at the poles.
All this, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Zagreb, the international University of Miami, and the local EAFIT university, will cause the sea level in the bay to rise by 26 cm between now and 2050 and by another half meter, for a total of 76 cm, at the beginning of the 22nd century.
Kelly Mendoza’s story from her home (afp)
One of the aggravating factors for what is Colombia’s first commercial port is that it was built on land full of underground cavities, the foundations of which are gradually collapsing over the decades. “The rise in sea levels in the coastal area of Cartagena is due to two factors”, explains Marko Tosic, a Canadian environmental scientist and one of the authors of the publication. There is of course global warming. But added to this is “subsidence of the soil”, which occurs “due to tectonic factors”.
Ten years ago, Kelly Mendoza, 31, moved near the coast of Tierra Bomba Island. Since then, two of her neighbors have lost their homes, gradually swept away by the waters. The waves are already hitting the wall of her brick home, in the room where she sleeps with her husband. “When the wave hits the wall, I’m afraid because it’s as if the partition is about to fall” and “of finding myself in the sea with my bed”, she says.
The destroyed cemetery in Tierra Bomba (afp)
The municipality of Cartagena does not provide precise numbers on the number of people already forced to move due to coastal erosion. Inés Jiménez, an 87-year-old local, says she no longer recognizes the environment in which she grew up. She remembers having to move in with her parents because their house was flooded. People “settled a little further away” to escape the rising sea, she says, pointing far out over the waves where, according to her recollections, the coast was.
Tosic warns that the rise in water levels in the Caribbean Sea is gradual, but inevitable. This is a “very small change, we are talking about millimeters over the years”. In 2024, the authorities will have to install concrete and stone panels along almost 4.5 kilometers of coast in front of the colonial city, to cushion the impact of the waves.
The skyline of Cartagena (afp)
The work in progress is particularly visible on Bocagrande beach, a seafront full of hotels. According to the municipality, without all this almost the entire city (80%) would risk being flooded. Mauricio Giraldo, representative of artisanal fishermen, complains, however, that the shield under construction will only protect tourist areas and luxury hotels and expresses his concern for the poorest areas.