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Responses to Climate Change » Climate Change Example: The Maldives

What you'll learn this session

Study time: 30 minutes

Cambridge spec: 5.3.3

Where the Maldives is and why it is so vulnerable to climate change
The social, economic and environmental impacts, with named places
How the Maldives has responded, including its international voice
The strategies and techniques used to manage climate change, and how well they work

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The example: the Maldives

The spec asks for one detailed example of a named country or region. Ours is the Maldives. We use ideas from Impacts of Climate Change Now and in the Future, Managing Climate Change: Agreements and Techniques and Mitigation or Adaptation: Evaluating Responses. Here we apply them, not teach them again.

Location: the Maldives is a country of about 1,200 small islands in the Indian Ocean, south-west of India and Sri Lanka. The islands are grouped into rings called atolls. About half a million people live there. The capital is Malé.

Key terms:

Atoll: a ring-shaped coral reef with small islands on it, round a lagoon.
Reclaimed land: new land made by pumping sand from the sea floor onto a reef or shallow sea.
Desalination: removing salt from sea water to make fresh water.
AOSIS: the Alliance of Small Island States, a group of small island countries that speak together at climate talks.

Named places to use in an answer: Malé, Hulhumalé, Baa Atoll and the coral reefs of the Indian Ocean.

Why is the Maldives so vulnerable?

🏝 Very low land

The islands are made of coral and sand. The average height is only about 1 metre above sea level (some sources say up to 1.5 metres).
The highest natural point is only a few metres above sea level.
Almost the whole country is therefore at risk from a rising sea.

💰 Small and dependent

There is very little land to retreat to. People cannot simply move uphill.
Income depends on tourism and fishing, which both rely on healthy reefs and seas.

Quick timeline

1998: a marine heatwave bleaches corals across the Indian Ocean, killing a very large share of shallow reef in the Maldives.
2004: the first people move to the reclaimed island of Hulhumalé.
2009: the president holds an underwater cabinet meeting to call for action on climate change.
2016: another mass coral bleaching event.

Impacts of climate change

Type	Impacts
Environmental	Sea level rise floods low islands and causes coastal erosion, so beaches shrink. Coral bleaching kills reefs, which protect islands from waves and are home to fish. Saltwater seeps into the small stores of fresh groundwater on the islands.
Economic	Tourism is the biggest part of the economy, and tourists come for beaches and reefs. Eroding beaches and dead coral put this at risk. Fishing is also vital, and warming seas and damaged reefs threaten fish stocks. Repairing sea defences costs a great deal for a small country.
Social	Homes, schools and roads are at risk of flooding. Spoilt fresh water harms health and farming. Many islanders live on a few crowded islands such as Malé, and some may have to leave their home islands in future.

Positive impacts are very few. The impacts are overwhelmingly negative.

Scale: impacts are local (an eroding beach on one island), national (tourism income) and global (the Maldives is one of many low-lying places facing the same threat).

Responses to climate change

The Maldives has produced very few greenhouse gases itself, but it suffers some of the worst effects. Its main response has been to use its international voice.

2009 underwater cabinet meeting: the president and ministers put on diving gear and signed a call for cuts in emissions on the sea bed, about 6 metres down. It won world headlines before the Copenhagen climate talks.
Working with other island states: the Maldives is a member of AOSIS, which speaks as one at climate talks.
Setting its own targets: in 2009 the president pledged to make the Maldives carbon neutral, to lead by example. Later plans include more solar power.

Strategies and techniques to manage climate change

🌊 Adaptation: protect

Sea walls were built round Malé, paid for with help from Japan.
Some other islands use rock and concrete defences to slow erosion.

🏗 Adaptation: build higher

Hulhumalé is a new island of reclaimed land built about 2 metres above sea level, next to the airport.
It is meant to take pressure off crowded Malé.

🌿 Sustainable techniques

Coral restoration: growing coral on frames and replanting it.
Protecting reefs and mangroves: for example Baa Atoll, a UNESCO biosphere reserve.
Renewable energy: solar power to replace imported diesel.
Fresh water: rainwater collection and desalination when groundwater turns salty.

Mitigation in the Maldives means switching from imported diesel to solar and setting emission targets. Adaptation means sea walls, higher land and reef protection.

What does sustainable mean here? Using methods that protect the reefs, beaches and fresh water so that future generations can still live and earn a living on the islands.

Evaluation: how well is it working?

Strategy	Strengths	Weaknesses
Sea walls	Protect the capital and its many people	Expensive, need aid, cannot protect every island, can harm reefs and beaches
Hulhumalé	Safer, higher land with homes and jobs	Very costly, and dredging sand can harm reefs
Coral restoration and protection	Sustainable, keeps tourism and fish stocks	Slow, small scale, and new coral can bleach again if seas keep warming
Renewable energy	Cuts fuel costs and sets an example	Needs money and training, and the Maldives' own cuts hardly change global warming

Overall: the responses help in the short term and most on the biggest islands. But the Maldives cannot stop the sea rising on its own. In the long term it depends on global emissions falling and on aid, so its strongest tool is still its voice.

Common mistakes

Writing only general climate change points. Name places such as Malé, Hulhumalé and Baa Atoll.
Saying the Maldives causes climate change. It produces very few emissions.
Listing strategies without judging them. Say who benefits and how sustainable each one is.

Exam-style question

Fig. 1.1 is a made-up description: a low coral island has a small village, a tourist resort, a beach that is getting narrower each year, and a reef with many white, dead corals.

(a) State two reasons why the Maldives is vulnerable to sea level rise. [2 marks]

(b) Explain how climate change could affect tourism on the island in Fig. 1.1. [3 marks]

Model answer

(a) The islands are very low, about 1 metre above sea level on average (1). There is no high ground to move to, so people are exposed (1).

(b) Warmer seas cause coral bleaching, so the reef dies (1). Sea level rise erodes the beach (1). Tourists come for beaches and reefs, so fewer visit and income and jobs fall (1).

(c) Top level (5-6 marks): Sea walls protect Malé and its many people, but they are expensive, rely on aid and cannot protect every island. Hulhumalé gives safer land about 2 metres above sea level and relieves crowded Malé, but dredging sand can harm reefs. Coral restoration and protecting reefs in places such as Baa Atoll are sustainable because they keep tourism and fishing going, but they are slow and corals can bleach again. Solar energy cuts costs, but the Maldives produces so few emissions that its own cuts barely change the global picture. Overall the strategies protect the main islands for now, but the long-term future depends on other countries cutting emissions.

Exam tip

For a 6-mark Evaluate question, give at least two strategies with a strength and a weakness each, then end with a short overall judgement.

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