We come from a land and culture, which our grandchildren will never know, and they will never be able to visit their grandparents tombs, as those will soon be swallowed by the sea. Us Maldivians are very connected with nature and care about the animals, too. Some locals talk about building Noah´s Ark of the modern times for them. Such a trauma for a whole nation, animals, and plants. Think about this whole scenario for a second…
I already told you about my dear country, the Maldives in detail in one of my previous posts. If you haven´t read it yet, then read it. More than 85% of my country’s island is built on top of coral islands. These coral islands rise less than 1 meter above what is called sea level. This is why my country is at high risk of being submerged, due to rising sea levels. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change it has been confirmed that The Maldives, Kiribati, Tuvalu and some other islands are about to sink.
It’s very concerning times, especially if you live on a small island, just like me. So here is the thing, which is not a myth, it is reality!…We will have no choice but to move away, find new homes, and do our best to rebuild our communities and culture somewhere else in a world we know little about as most Maldivians don`t get to travel too much. The Government considered India, Australia, and Sri Lanka as destinations of relocation back in 2008, but since the political scene changed, the Maldives has changed their way of thinking, so we are now using our efforts on trying to find solutions for how to face the issues locally, such as creating the artificial “City of Hope”, which noone knows, if it would ever work, or not. You know things often times sound like a good idea in theory, but these may fail when it comes to practice.
Life “while we keep on sinking” is expected to gradually become more and more difficult, too. Lots of occupations are expected to become affected. The Maldives heavily depends on fishing as one of the main occupations. According to the World Bank, everyone depending on this sector now face a low quality of life due to climate change. My country is also one of the world´s most famous idyllic holiday destinations chosen for sun and luxury. All of this could be gone soon. As sea water rises it starts to penetrate the freshwater on the land, that’s the most immediate threat. Beach and coastal erosion and flooding is another threat. Obviously our other main source of income – tourism – is expected to get more and more challenging to maintain as well. The area is expected to also become prone to natural disasters, such as El Nino, which I already told you about in a previous post. It is “being forecasted”, that the Maldives will be a physically dangerous country to live in, or visit, so I recommend you my friends to come and visit me and my beautiful country as long as you can. No-one knows exactly how soon this process will progress.
One thing for sure, we are expected to become the first country having to relocate our entire population practically like “climate refugees”. Honestly I don´t like to think about having that title attached to my name, but I don´t have a choice. This would be the first time in modern history, that an entire country would have to relocate, due to being built on land, that will no longer exist…
Unfortunately my country is expected to become the first example to illustrate the link between climate change, migration and the new wave of climate refugees flooding to Australia, Europe, USA, and so on. Thanks to Livandu, I made lots of new friends from all over the world, so I know I will be in safe hands out there in the unknown, once the unfortunate time of relocation arrives 😉
By the way, we aren’t the only tourist destinations that could entirely disappear. This is actually happening all around the world. Have you by any chance seen Venice (Italy) on the news a few days ago? They are dealing with their 2nd highest water levels in recorded history. Among many other places they are at huge risk, too.
I think it is just about time to do something, instead of speculating. I – and I think I speak for all other Maldivians – really hope, that there will be a global resolution with near to immediate actions 🙂
One thing for sure, us Maldivians have learned the importance of living in the NOW and enjoy every day we get….so enjoy your weekend and book your trip to The Maldives! I´ll show you around both above and of course my famous Nazim´s underwater guided tour 🙂
Nazim ?
