Several large cities are sinking faster than the sea is rising.
The cause is not climate but water taken from under the ground.
When are pumped faster than they refill, the soil over them .
The surface then drops by a few centimetres each year.
A few centimetres sound like nothing until a high meets a storm.
Jakarta, Bangkok and parts of the Mekong all show the same pattern.
Sinking land also cracks pipes, which leak and raise demand for more pumping.
Tokyo is the standard example of a city that stopped the process.
It restricted private and built a piped supply from surface water.
there has been close to zero for decades.
The measure is unpopular at first, because are cheap and immediate.
A piped system requires years of investment before a household sees anything.
That gap between cost and benefit is why the problem is usually solved late.