By Dennis Schatz - Vice President of Strategic Development
The question in this edition is:
What country may be the
first to experience catastrophic effects from rising sea
levels due to global warming?
The Answer - Maldives
Scroll down
to see the solution to our puzzle.
The Maldives consist of almost 300
islands, none of them higher than eight feet above sea
level. Eighty percent of the islands are less than three
feet above sea level, which makes it the lowest lying
country in the world. Many climate models predict the
Maldives will be uninhabitable by 2070 due to rising ocean
levels - and maybe even as early as 2030. Twenty of the
islands have already been abandoned due to the rising
water. Some resorts have had to close housing due to
ongoing flooding. This is not good news for a country where
one third of its income comes from tourism.
In the 1990s, the country started building artificial sea
walls for protection from storms and the rising water. But
this reduced the flow of water to the coral reefs which
provided a natural barrier to the effects of the incoming
waves. The country is now trying to revive and rebuild the
coral reefs. No matter what the Maldives do to protect
their land, the survival of the country will be determined
by the rest of the world as we try to combat the effects of
global warming.
Here is the solution:
The best way to keep up with PacSci-Doku, and everything happening at Pacific Science Center, is to subscribe to our free weekly newsletter. Just use the sign-up form on the left side of this page.