Calling Robinson Crusoe by
Kamin Mohammadi. (Reproduced courtesy of Geographical Magazine)
The Maldive islands are renowned for their pristine beaches and spectacular diving. But global warming is a dark cloud on their horizon.
The four seasons resort at kuda huraa in the Maldives understands well the 'Robinson Crusoe' factor, identified by the Maldivian Ministry for Tourism as key to the Maldives appeal. All Maldivian resorts occupy islands that are otherwise uninhabited, so for the length of your holiday, you really are a castaway on your own desert island. The Four Seasons Resort knows all about castaway comfort, about clean towels for the beach and fresh fruit cocktails on tap. There are several staff for each guest, three restaurants, and fantastic water sports and diving facilities on an island so tiny that you can walk its circumference in ten minutes. Yet amid the luxury, there are signs of concern. Every night in the library, guests gather for the 'Fish Talk', a serious 45-minute lecture given by the resort's marine biologist and aimed at raising awareness of the underwater environment, including the creation of coral and the recent bleaching phenomenon.
The Maldives may have become a luxury destination, but these same resorts that pander to the international jetset also have a part to play in preserving these islands if they want the country to survive. With sea levels on the rise (a study undertaken in 2000 suggested that sea levels in the Indian Ocean had risen by as much as 25cm since the start of the 1980s) and global warming showing no signs of slowing down, it may be a matter not of whether – but when – the islands will finally be submerged by the ocean.
The Maldives is a chain of about 1,192 small coral islands arranged in a series of clusters, or atolls, and lying low in the Indian Ocean, 600km southwest of Sri Lanka. Stretching up from the equator in a vertical strip covering over 750 kilometres, only 202 of the islands are inhabited, while 99 per cent of the country's territory is made up by sea. There are no rivers or mountains and the islands lie low in the ocean, averaging only about a metre above sea level (the Maldives is in the Guinness Book of Records for having the lowest high point in the world). The islands may be idyllic, but the real action is in the sea; there are reefs and lagoons aplenty, populated by a truly stunning array of brilliantly coloured fish.
This year the Maldives celebrates 30 years of tourism. In 1972 George Corbin, an Italian entrepreneur, transported 12 guests – mostly travel writers – to what he was convinced was the perfect holiday destination. They found a nation unchanged for decades, 93,000 residents without a single policeman or phone, and one car. Within a year a handful of self-contained resorts had opened. By the end of the decade, President Gayoom had passed laws that have safeguarded the islands and ensured the Maldives a cut on any tourism income ever since.
With visitor figures reaching 360,000 in 1998 (the local population stands at around 280,000), the 1979 law showed amazing foresight, restricting building to the height of the surrounding trees, stating that trees cannot be cut down without prior permission from the Ministry and that resorts must not take water from 'inhabited' islands. In 1982, the new department for tourism (later to become the Ministry) decreed that all the resorts occupy their own self-contained worlds, constructed from natural materials and free from traffic. However, President Gayoom was warning the world about the effects of global warming as far back as Rio de Janero's 1992 Earth Summit, pointing out that his country could well disappear some time during the 21st century. While the plight of the Maldives and other small island states has been increasingly recognised and addressed, thanks in part to the alliance of Small Island Nations (AOSIS) and their activities, actual progress is slow. It is also important to remember the considerable time lags between the emission of greenhouse gases and their consequent effects on global temperature and sea level. This means that even if atmospheric greenhouse-gas concentrations are stabilised over the next decades, global temperatures are still projected to increase for another few decades, while sea levels will continue to rise for a number of centuries. This state of affairs is particularly ironic for the Maldives which has no heavy industry and owns fewer than 3,000 carbon dioxide-emitting vehicles.
Scientists now believe it's likely that global warming will lead to some increase in maximum tropical cyclone wind speeds and lower central pressures, prompting more damaging storm surges. The threat to coral reefs from this increase in cyclone intensities, is considered, by many scientists, to be the real danger. The coral reef in the Maldives suffered from widespread bleaching in 1998 due to the temporary rise in sea temperatures associated with El Niño. Much of the coral has recovered and while there is every indication that more will, the crucial question is whether El Niño events will be occuring more frequently because of global warming.
This potential devastation hasn't passed by the luxury resorts unnoticed. Uniquely, the Four Seasons has launched the 'adopt-a-reefball-project', which aims to rejuvenate the damaged reef around the resorts with the use of reefballs – structures designed to facilitate coral growth. The first of its kind in the Maldives, the use of reefballs has been scientifically proven to increase the growth of coral tenfold.
Aside from the impact on the ecosystem that the loss of coral reefs represents, any environmental impact on the nation will affect the tourism so vital to its economy. The waters of the Maldives contain three-quarters of the world's reef-fish species and are world famous for diving. Over 60 per cent of visitors to the islands do some diving – be it scuba or snorkelling, generating considerable revenue.
A United Nations Environment Programme report, published early in 2001 estimated that losses linked to climate change may, by 2050, exceed ten per cent of Maldives' national wealth. So how will the islands cope and what action do they propose to take? Tourism Minister Hassan Sobir, says: "The time debate is unclear but global warming is real. I think the travel industry should be more campaigning. Decisions are taken by governments about emissions but we don't see them being carried out."
The call to action, though, has been heard loud and clear by the resorts themselves. In 1995 the Soneva Fushi resort opened on Baa Atoll. So concerned were the owners to maintain the natural habitat that staff and guests were asked to cycle through the rainforest to their cottages, vegetables were planted for use in the resort and everything that could be was recycled. Soneva Fushi soon became popular with those longing for privacy, particularly with those eco-concerned celebrities such as Sir Paul McCartney. Similarly, other resorts are big on recycling and waste disposal while divers are always warned not to touch anything underwater either with hands or fins, and shops refuse to stock endangered shells and corals.
The Maldivian Foreign Minister Fathulla Jameel talks of the need for a dialogue with major private sector companies and charitable foundations. He also points out that: "Our very survival is at stake. Left to our own devices, we would not have the material wherewithal to deal with a problem that has almost nothing to do with anything that we have done. It is a problem of global interest and consequence, and it is at that level that effective actions can be taken."
Whether such good intentions will mobilise the world is uncertain, but there is no doubt that for the Maldives, the call to action is urgent.
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