Twenty-five hundred years of maritime living have shaped the culture and identity of the people of the Maldives, a country of 1,196 low-lying islands arranged into a double chain of 26 coral atolls, so flat they scarcely breach the horizon.
Outsiders may know the islands for two things: beach holidays, and the likelihood the Maldives may become the first country on Earth to disappear beneath rising seas.
Now, as the pace of climate change accelerates, this tiny nation is trying to buy time, in hopes that the world’s leaders will reduce carbon emissions before the Maldives’ inevitable demise. The archipelago has bet its future—along with a substantial sum from the national purse—on construction of an artificial, elevated island that could house a majority of the population of nearly 555,000 people. Meanwhile, a Dutch design firm plans to build 5,000 floating homes on pontoons anchored in a lagoon across the capital.
These may seem extreme measures, but these are extreme times for the Maldives. As President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih told world leaders at last fall’s United Nations climate conference in Scotland: “The difference between 1.5 degrees and 2 degrees (Celsius) is a death sentence for the Maldives.” And that was merely the latest cry for help.
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https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/the-maldives-is-being-swallowed-by-the-sea-can-it-adapt?cmpid=org=ngp::mc=crm-email::src=ngp::cmp=editorial::add=Planet_Possible_20220125::rid=E1335172D8894EDB49BC177D45A5D86B