A Paradise in Peril

The island nation of Maldives is the lowest lying country in the world. As the oceans fill with water from melting glaciers, this tropical paradise will be the first country on the planet to slip below the waves. Experts predict that within the next 15 years, rising sea levels will force the island’s 396,000 to migrate elsewhere. Other islands and coastal regions around the world face similar threats.

Migrations forced by rising sea levels will disproportionately affect poor nations and the developing word as climate refugees overwhelm neighboring countries. In the Maldives, a nation dependent upon tourism and fishing, economic development has worsened the problem. Protective coral reefs are mined for building materials, refuse piles up, fresh water supplies are threatened. In October, Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed and his cabinet donned scuba gear and held a meeting 20 feet underwater to publicize the island’s plight and call on developed nations to curb carbon emissions .”We do not want to leave the Maldives,” Nasheed said, “but we also do not want to be climate refugees living in tents for decades.”