Now that ocean sea ice around Greenland and Antarctica is melting and oceans simply expand because their temperatures are increasing, some of the Maldives islands could be vanished within 10 years from now.

Over the last 7 years, satellite measurements have shown that the sea level has been rising at 3.3mm (0.13inch) per year.
This is double of what was recorded in the 1900s. The average height of the 1,200 atoll Maldives islands is only about 1.5 meters or 4.8 feet.

Maldives hasn’t much to protect itself from storm surges, nor rising sea levels rise. Repeated storm damage already denudes the Maldives islands, especially when the reefs protecting the atolls die from ocean acidification.

Maldives and the Carbon World Cup

The Maldives may, or may not, prove to be the winners of the Carbon World-Cup : the race to see which country actually becomes the first to be completely carbon neutral.

The Maldives recently announced aiming to be carbon-neutral within ten years. Other entrants are other popular vacation destinations: New Zealand, Costa Rica, Iceland, Norway and Monaco.

The Maldives have much at stake, in fact their future may very well depend upon every country entering the Carbon World-Cup. The Maldives Islands will be among some of the first and worst affected low-lying islands to suffer ocean inundation as the sea levels rise.

Sea levels rise because carbon gasses shield the earth from cooling down, hence Antarctica will melt faster.