The Maldives archipelago consists of around 1200 islands covering an area of approximately 800 kilometers in the Indian Ocean, and they are generally thought to be some of the most beautiful tropical islands on our planet. These islands, and indeed this country, are threatened by rising sea levels since they are all only a couple of meters above sea level.

Even a small increase in sea levels, eg. half a metre would relinquish many of the islands back to the Indian Ocean, and make pretty much all of them virtually uninhabitable. Maldives islands such Bandos island, Baros island, Filitheyo island and Kuredu island which are popular destinations for thousands of visitors each years may be lost to the sea within a matter of decades.

Sea-level change isnt the only threat to these islands however, they are also under a real threat from an increase in sea temperatures. Increases in ocean water temperature can destroy coral reefs which are sensitive to change, and these play a large part in protecting islands such as the Maldives from waves.

Whilst global warming has tended to be a point of conjecture among environmentalists, the unprecedented event of the rapid melting of Arctic sea ice in 2007 has caused many environmentalists to agree that warming is not only inevitable, but is happening more rapidly than was originally suspected.

In 2008 a leading climatologist, James Hansen, published a research paper which demonstrated that the actual safe limit for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was at most 350 parts per million, anything higher than that causing significant negative environmental effects globally. We have already reached that level with the current concentration at 390 ppm and rising.

Not only are the Maldives under immediate threat, countries like Bangladesh are already suffering saltwater flooding as sea levels rise; Australia is experiencing epic droughts in the last few years, and forests across western North America and Europe are succumbing to pests multiplying in the growing heat.

Since it has become clear that globe is already suffering the effects of warming is probably the main reason why no one is overly content with the recent pledge of the G8 nations to take measures to try and restrict temperature increase to only 2 degrees and atmospheric concentration of Carbon Dioxide to 450 parts per million - a figure that many feel is too high. A few years ago, those might have been realistic goals, but our current evidence suggests they are out of date.

Over 100 world leaders will meet later this month (October 2009) for the United Nations? Climate Change Summit. On 24th October 2009, the Maldives will hold the largest underwater political demonstration in history with and divers taking banners down to the coral reefs as a publicity stunt to remind everyone of what is at stake. At present we are not totally sure, but it seems inevitable that holidays to the Maldives may be over in the future.

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