News focus Paradise lost?
The Maldives are known for their clear waters and white sandy beaches but all this beauty could end in the near future
C
ooling deep blue seas, reefs that are home to hundreds of colourful exotic fish, white sandy beaches lined
with palm trees – this is the harmony of the Maldives where many a tourist has spent long days relaxing, watching sunsets and sipping cocktails. But scientists believe that by 2100 it could all be gone. The Maldives, which are part of
the British Commonwealth, lie in the Indian Ocean and are made up of 1,190 coral islands, 200 of which are populated with 350,000 people. On the surface, this tropical paradise appears to be the perfect destination, but look a little closer and you will find a country striving to make an environmental change big enough to save their entire existance. After all, scientists believe that a rise of simply
8 Organic Life May 2012
The Island of Thalfushi was built to contain the rubbish from the capital city of Malé. Rubbish often floats into the sea
three feet in the water level could
submerge all of the islands and this could occur in no more than 100 years time. The
Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC), whose job it is to provide the world with a well-
The Maldives are the epitome of peace and tranquillity but if scientists are correct in their global warming calculations the small country is on course for a terrifying fate. Francesca Dent investigates how the lowest lying island in the world could be gone within 100 years
Photograph by nattu (Flickr)
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