Coastal Erosion Due to Climate Change in the Maldives

Essay by niky_devilUniversity, Bachelor'sC, March 2010

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There are many topics in today’s world. One key factor aspect in today’s tourism based industry is that of climate change (Hilery Chiew 2009). In this report I will be talking about the coral erosion of the country and how it affects tourism. Furthermore since the Maldives is such a tourist destination with the image of having a very big sun and sand life. In this case study I will discuss how the government together with organizations such as the UN can combat this before this loss in tourism progresses to uncontrollable lengths.

The climatic deteriation of the Maldives has become a major factor in the economic downturn of the country. The economy of the Maldives is based predominantly on tourism, according to the UNDP (2008:6). The initiatives are mainly based on forecasting this weather change and what role climate change plays in this scenario. One must think about this like a mirror effect.

By this I mean the loss in one profit means a gain in another. One aspect I did find, in my opinion, a plus point was the physical importance that this project gave to the coastal erosion. In a lot of other similar projects such as in India they are actually moving away from what they are losing and they are trying to develop other areas of the country in terms of tourism such as cultural and based more on heritage. In my view the ideal method would be to use these methods together so that the country would benefit in both areas. According to Randeep Ramesh (2008) the newly elected president in Maldives, Nasheed thinks that the 1,200 islands that dot the all the way up to the tip of India will soon vanish under the ocean. This is primarily due not only to coastal erosion but also a key effect of what has been happening around us for a long time, namely global warming. Another aspect that I did not find to pronounce in this topic was the role of global warming has been playing on not only climate change in the Maldives but also around the world in places like Fiji.

I believe this is a valid project and that it should be pursued with great tenacity. As previously mentioned in the project tourism is a predominant source of the countries income. The saving and preservation of such a key asset will in turn be a great asset to the country not only for the local people and also keep the tourists coming. And if the tourists keep coming to this country the government has less reason to think about bio piracy. This also would relieve the government from the idea of moving the entire country. The sooner they act the better it will be for the entire country economically and socially.

Reflective StatementDuring this project I found that there were a lot of difficulties in finding the right objective for the project as it had more than one goal. Many different actions were stated and it was hard for me to pick the one that best suited my objective. Throughout this project I determined many barrels to overcome to actually be able to understand what they wanted to do and how they wanted to do it, it also what the school really required us to do. While doing my research the tasks became more and more clear and I started to enjoy learning about a new country and its problems and how they were planning on overcoming them. Overall I found that this project was a very difficult task but it was an interesting one which taught us how to really go deep into details of things and to pick out key concepts rather than the overview.

ReferencesChiew. H. (2009) The Struggle To Adapt. Internet. http://www.climatemediapartnership.org/spip.php?article544 Last accessed on 09-03-09Raneedp.R. (2008) Paradise almost lost: Maldives seek to buy a new homeland. Internet. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/10/maldives-climate-change Last accessed on 09-03-09UNDP (2008) Enhancing the Resilience of the Maldives to Climate Changethrough Integrating the Tourism Sector and Associated Communitiesinto National Adaptation. Internet http://www.unwto.org/sdt/project/en/projects_popup.php?id=1358 Last accessed 11-03-09