News focus Nasheed,


who resigned


from presidency earlier this year under speculation that he may have been forced out by


police and army


officers in a coup, told the world’s press: “If the Maldives cannot be saved today we do not feel that there is much of a chance for the rest of the world.” With Manhattan based at


the same level above the sea, his fears are certainly justified. The rising water levels aren’t an issue


President Mohammed Nasheed holds an underwater meeting to raise awareness of global warming and the danger that the islands are facing.


that will only become prominent in the future for the Maldives, however. The effects are already beginning to show. In 1987 unusually high tides flowed over the country and flooded the


The Maldives


• The Maldives is one of the most dispersed countries in the world.


• More than 80 percent of the islands sit less than 3.2 feet above sea level.


• Sea levels have risen aproximately 8 inches in the last century.


• There are more than 2,000 species of fish in the waters surrounding the Maldives. Seven of these have not been identified elsewhere in the world.


• In the 1960’s the United Nations declared the Maldives unsustainable for tourism yet today there are hotels on 90 Maldivian islands.


10 Organic Life May 2012


capital city of Male’. Known as the Boxing Day tsunami, it devastated the west coast of Sumatra, approximately 1,953 miles from the Maldives, killing 82 people, displacing another 12,000 and causing around £237 million in damages. The country was quickly rebuilt after


this disaster but the next time a tsunami strikes the Maldives might not be as lucky. A short film entitled Paradise in Peril award-winning


by photojournalist


Francesco Zizola showed a collection of his photographs of Maldivian residents going about their day to day lives mixed in with photographs of past tragedies such as this. The emotional documentary was part


of a project by international photo agency NOOR called Consequences where photographers were given the task of recording the effects of climate change around the world. In March this year The DOXA Documentary Film Festival in Canada also screened The Island President, a film about President Nasheed’s bid to


All photographs courte


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