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It has been the economic heartbeat of the world's fourth most populous country for almost 500 years, but Jakarta's days as Indonesia's capital could be numbered.

Choked with traffic and garbage, the city on the northwest Java coast has been pushed to breaking point as its population surges above 12 million and its foundations sink under the weight of rampant development.

Floods displace thousands of people and cause millions of dollars of damage every year, and are predicted to get worse with rising sea levels, unchecked logging in catchment areas and the blocking of canals with rubbish.

A World Bank study has found that by 2025 the sea could be lapping at the gates of the presidential palace in the centre of the the former spice capital, known until 1942 as Batavia.

This could explain why President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recently revived a radical plan to shift the capital to a new location.

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"Surrounded by water, a Buddhist temple is one of the last remnants of a Thai village that has vanished beneath the sea -- a scene being repeated across Asia and the world.

Around 60 families have already been forced away from the once idyllic fishing community of Khun Samutchine, as the sea that local people rely on for their livelihood advances inland by more than 20 metres (yards) a year."

flooding sea level rise thailand

"Hundreds of people were rescued from homes and vehicles after heavy rain and strong winds brought severe flooding to parts Scotland and Wales yesterday.

Around 100 people, many of them elderly, were rescued from flooded properties in Huntley, Aberdeenshire.

The Grampian fire and rescue service was continuing to search homes in the town today in an attempt to ensure nobody remained trapped."

climate change wind rain flooding scotland wales climate camp greenmonktv

Philippines floods: hundreds dead or missing after storm.

A picture gallery of the after effects of the storm in the Phillipines

philippines storm ketsana flooding greenmonktv

Up to 20 million people in low-lying Bangladesh are at risk from sea-level rise in the coming decades, according to new research.

bangladesh sea level rise climate change floods flooding greenmonktv

A tiny island nation in the Pacific Ocean -- that could be wiped off the map because of global warming -- is seeking to to set an example for the world by shedding its dependency on oil and becoming powered entirely by renewable energy sources.

tuvalu sea level rise flooding renewable energy greenmonktv

Cleanup efforts unfolded Monday in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, after torrential monsoon rain over the weekend killed dozens, cut power to 15 million and broke a 32-year record.

pakistan karachi monsoon rain flooding floods Climate Change greenmonktv

Damage caused by global warming will cost Japan at least an extra 11 trillion yen each year by the end of the century, even if carbon emissions are halved by 2050

11 trillion yen = €81 bn

japan climate change flooding landslides greenmonktv

Flooding like that which devastated the North of England last year is set to become a common event across the UK in the next 75 years

global warming climate change flood flooding