Maldives

The Maldives is a country made up of over 1000 low-lying islands. The land below sea level totals 80%. The population of the Maldives are very concerned about coastal erosion and flooding as they believe this is being made worse by rising sea-levels and climate change.
Causes of rising sea-levels.
1. Global Warming- As the temperature of the earth increases, land based ice such as ice caps and glaciers melt, which contributes to the volume of water in the ocean, causing it to rise.
2. Thermal expansion: When the temperature of the ocean increases, the sea water expands and therefore takes up more surface area and therefore results in the rise of sea levels.
Social effects of rising sea levels.
1. Local people's houses are in danger of becoming flooded or eroded by the approaching sea.
  1. This means that inhabitants could become homeless
2. A huge proportion of islanders rely on tourism as an income.
  1. As sea levels continue to rise, tourism resorts will decrease in numbers due to damage and destruction, this means that the number of tourists visiting the Maldives will decrease and in results, so will the country's income.
3. Islanders are already losing their jobs, income, communities, homes and land.
  1. Fishing is the main source of income for families, however coastal flooding affects the sea's eco-system and therefore family income has been affected as the numbers of fish in the sea have lowered.
4. Rising sea levels have caused coastal floods in the past which have led to the deaths of thousands.
5. More money is being spent on defences rather than on infrastucture and development.
Economic effects of rising sea levels.
1. A large proportion of the Maldive's tax revenue comes from tourist-related activities.
  1. This means that as tourism decreases, the income gained by the government will decrease and therefore less developments within the country will be made.
2. Tourism provides nearly 30% of the GDP. This will decrease dramatically as rising sea levels increase.
  1. A decrease in tourism will mean a decrease in the countries GDP and therefore businesses and consumers will be negatively affected.
3. There are over 80 resorts that serve 500,000 tourists per year. This will dramatically decrease, resulting in a decrease in income.
Political effects of rising sea levels.
1. 300,000 Maldivians could become refugees.
2. The need to diversify the economy rather than relying on tourism.
3. There are fears that the Maldives could become a stateless nation.
  1. The government is put under pressure to decide where to migrate the Maldive's population in order to keep them safe from the inevitable flooding.
How Maldivians are trying to cope.
1. Male, the capital city is surrounded by a 3m wall to protect it from the force of upcoming waves.
2. Receiving funding from places such as Japan to aid projects such as the Male wall.
3. The Maldives are working with other countries to try and resolve governmental issues and to raise awareness.
4. Policies have been made to reduce the impact of flooding and increase awareness- Kyoto Protocal.
  1. The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty which extends the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emission, based on the global warming exsits and man made CO2 emissions caused it.

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Maldives

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	Created by Megan Cave over 8 years ago