Think of the Maldives and an image of an idyllic white sand beach, fringed with palm trees and beach hammocks, probably springs to mind.
But the future of this nation of 1190 islands may be one of high-rise apartment blocks and skyscraper offices if it is to cope with rising sea levels.
More than 80 per cent of the country鈥檚 land area is less than 1 metre above sea level, giving it the lowest terrain of any nation in the world and rendering it particularly vulnerable to rising waters.
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Construction is already under way to build new islands with a higher elevation by pumping sand from the sea floor. Work started on one, Hulhumal茅, in 1997, to allow for population overspill from the nearby capital island of Mal茅. Hulhumal茅 is built 2 metres above sea level, and despite measuring just 4 square kilometres, it is already home to more than 90,000 people.
The push to build higher islands will have to accelerate as sea levels rise over the coming decades, or the people of the Maldives may need to abandon life on the atolls altogether.
鈥淪ea level rise is inevitable,鈥� says Ali Shareef, a former climate change official in the Maldives government. 鈥淓ven if Paris Agreement 1.5掳C goals are met, the committed sea level rise over the multi-century period is higher than 1.5 metres, the average elevation of Maldives. Therefore, we need to find a solution to adapt to that rising sea level.鈥�
Shareef has worked with colleagues and researchers in the UK to explore how low-lying island nations like the Maldives could be saved by engineering raised islands to cope with higher sea levels.
The entire population of the Maldives 鈥� more than half a million people 鈥� could live on just two heavily built-up islands raised in this way, the researchers conclude.
Alongside Hulhumal茅, a second island would need to be raised up to 6 metres above current sea level, where residents of Mal茅 and the other lowest-lying islands could move as waters creep higher.
Concentrating the entire population onto two or three islands would make it simpler and cheaper to provide basic infrastructure services such as clean water, sewage networks and ports, the researchers said, compared with raising the height of dozens of smaller atolls.
Nearby, privately managed tourist islands 鈥� which would periodically be rebuilt to cope with higher sea levels 鈥� could still offer beach retreats for paying visitors.
Such a solution would cost billions of dollars. But it offers Maldivians a chance to remain an independent nation, says Shareef, who no longer works for the government and was speaking to New 杏吧原创 in a personal capacity.
A future where most Maldivians live on a few heavily built-up urban islands while tourists enjoy the idyll of a remote atoll may sound jarring, but it is in line with current social and demographic trends, says at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK, who was part of the research team.
Mal茅 has seen its population explode in recent years, from just 20,000 in 1987 to 250,000 today. 鈥淧eople are moving to urban areas,鈥� says Nicholls. 鈥淢al茅 is like a little Manhattan in the Indian Ocean.鈥�
鈥淚 think the key point is that island raising can offer a long-term solution,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his is really not inconsistent with what is happening in the Maldives today.鈥�
Environmental Research: Climate
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