Maldives Isn't Going To Disappear Anytime Soon

I’ve been to Maldives once, on holiday, sometime in 2019, much before the Covid-19 pandemic hit India. I distinctly remember feeling very sad when I left, thinking that the low-lying islands would soon be under water, swallowed by rising sea-levels, brought on by climate change and global warming. So, when I came across a news paper article which said that as many as 1,000 low-lying tropical islands in Maldives, which were once considered doomed to disappear, are now actually growing in size. According to researchers who analysed decades of aerial photos and satellite imagery, most islands have either remained stable or even grown in size. The secret apparently lies in the power of waves and currents. As sea levels rose, waves transported more sand and sediment to the shores, replenishing the land that had eroded. Although the islands' shapes and positions may have changed, they did not diminish in size.

This gives me hope. We earthlings can survive climate change. However, some difficult decisions need to be made. In the case of Maldives, if and when some of the islands become difficult to live on, the Maldivian government will have to choose which Islands to save and which to sacrifice and then move people out of the islands that can’t be saved, transplant them elsewhere and give them houses, roads, water supply and other infrastructure so that they can recreate their lives afresh.