Maldives Builds Barriers to Global Warming

Countries struggling with climate change could learn a lot from a constellation of tiny islands in the Indian Ocean.

The Republic of Maldives was one of the first countries to recognize the danger of rising sea levels. It’s also one of the first to come up with a plan to adapt to a warmer world.
President Gayoom initially tried political solutions. The Maldives was the first country to sign the Kyoto protocol to fight global warming. But that hasn’t done much yet to slow down sea-level rise.

So Gayoom, ruler of the Maldives for 30 years now, has been experimenting with a more hands-on approach, starting with a project near his presidential palace.

His first effort was a massive seawall made of concrete tetrapods. It surrounds the entire capital of Male.

Gayoom was able to persuade the Japanese government to pay for the $60 million wall after the floods of 1987. The wall reduced the vulnerability of Male, which is a mile long and houses one-third of the country’s population.

But the wall also makes Male the least attractive of the Maldives’ 200 inhabited islands.

So Gayoom — whose power here lets him do pretty much anything he wants — is now trying something a lot more ambitious just across the lagoon.

NPR