Significant portions of the Maldives lost to climate change | 60 Minutes Australia

a few years ago I took a trip to Paradise an idyllic little place called the Maldives just step outside your room and there was a fabulous Beach a long stretch of pure white sand try that today you end up in the ocean if ever you needed proof that global warming exists it's right there the Maldives is drowning on the latest estimates they'll be almost entirely underwater by the end of the century but the maldivians won't go down without a fight they're taking drastic action to save their island nation and if all else fails there's a fallback plan pack up and resettle here in Australia oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] the Maldives is the Indian Ocean's jewel in the crown playground to the rich and very rich sun-drenched beaches and white sand for years the locals have had it all fresh fish you could literally drag home fruit and vegetables in abundance and plenty of tourist dollars so what could possibly go wrong well this the science is fairly certain the sea is rising and and the Moon lives will probably sink in some time to come [Music] [Applause] global warming climate change call it what you will according to the experts will cause the sea levels to rise and Rise by about a meter come the end of the century now that may not seem like much but that's about as high above sea level as the Maldives are today and that's about the height that I'm standing at now a rise of one meter would see the Maldives literally go under the first country to be drowned because of global warming it is unthinkable here they are 1192 Islands scattered like pearls across the sea breathtakingly beautiful but like so many other low-lying countries around the world dangerously vulnerable the Maldives has already had a taste of nature at its worst and hit by the Boxing Day tsunami it swallowed up whole islands and killed more than 80 people a disaster made worse because the Maldives natural defenses are already down it's coral reefs an early victim of global warming these islands exist because of the coral reefs without the courage they wouldn't exist at all they've just erode away very quickly Charlie Baron is an Australian scientist on appease the world Authority on coral reefs and he's come to the Maldives to find out whether these tiny fragile Islands can be saved for literally millions of years the corals have never been exposed for the temperatures they're being exposed to now and they're simply not designed to take it these islands rely on their coral reefs for protection a kind of Frontline defense against erosion but now they're being broken down literally bleached to death in hot sea water we're in for a changing climate like we've never imagined before we're going to be witnessing whole cities being destroyed through the sea level rise and in Australia what can we expect we can expect the destruction of the Great Bay Area for sure [Applause] as is this was originally the island huh that's right yes this this was the the beach earlier uh of this area that you see here this was the beach and all this area has now been eroded over the last six seven years Aziz is a marine biologist who works at the Banyan Tree Resort an island that's literally being washed away I think we have lost about uh 10 12 meters of beach here from this side so it's a constant fight against nature for us now for me this is quite a sight I visited eight years ago and I walked right here on what was then dry hot sand this I would normally be standing dry that's right yes [Applause] [Music] sand is being pumped back onto the island to stop it whittling away it's a daily battle [Applause] and how all of these guys this is uh two weeks about two weeks old yes yes but it's not only about saving beaches Banyan Tree breeds Turtles and the loss of the island would also see them homeless this little one was born here and it will come back to this island after 20 to 30 years to lay the eggs So within this 20 or 30 years this island disappears or eroded this little animal cannot find the place to lay egg it's an ecological Balancing Act Aziz and his colleagues are even trying to create artificial reefs growing coral on steel rods by zapping them with a very low dose of electricity so this is this is what it looks like yes this is a five-year-old piece from our experiment but you see in the center is the steel rod and surrounding it is the calcium carbonate it is a small micro ecosystem there's plenty of fish living in between and new corals have come and settled it won't make any difference we're afraid it's a shame it's a very worthwhile good but scientific experiment going on but in terms of reality these corals are well they are doomed and there's no other way of looking at it it doesn't give Charlie veran any pleasure to deliver the bad news it's very sad they've done nothing to bring this on themselves we Australians have more than any other country per capita and we're seeing now what the Western world has imposed on these people and it is sad and it's so unjust and wrong and it's very wrong you've become a victim have you not of what the rest of the world is doing I've never blamed others for my own situation you just being nice um no I'm being realistic for the new president of the Maldives 36 year old Muhammad Nasheed it's a seemingly impossible task we are the Infantry uh um and we are the Frontline state of this and therefore we have a moral responsibility and obligation on ourselves to let others know what is happening if ever there was a role model for survival it's president Nasheed he's the Maldives Nelson Mandela elected only six months ago after years of jail and torture at the hands of the dictator who ruled this island paradise over the past 30 years when you were in prison fighting for your own Survival did you ever think that you would be president of a country fighting for its survival no I I didn't we don't have much time to waste um we really have to sort ourselves out in the next 10 years and if we don't will we all perish we all die and says I mean I I I I think it's um fairly obvious [Applause] this is certainly the only country I've been to where every Hotel provides life jackets alongside the bathrobes but in the Maldives it's no joke the government has been forced to build a massive sea wall around the capital Mali to literally hold back the tide and on a nearby Island a new city is being created to fortify it against the effects of global warming the island level has been raised an extra meter Mali is just about one meter and this side is about two meters above sea level so it's believed that after even Malay goes off it will be there for at least for few years after that this is the garden yeah the idea is to grow as much produce as possible ourselves so even though the Maldives make some minuscule contribution to carbon emissions it's punching above its weight in the fight against global warming around as well it's a little bit like a supermarket in the gardens Australian environmentalist Wayne Wadsworth has spent the last 18 months helping the son of a fushi resort become carbon neutral so you can come and you know you can pick different things from the garden and the kitchen staff come in often they pick things freshly you can actually hear them chopping up probably your dinner tonight oh I hope so the resort grows its own food bottles its own water recycles just about everything and has even developed an air conditioning system utilizing deep sea water but will any of this count or is it that in this newlywed Paradise the honeymoon is well and truly over if the scientists are right it may already be too late to save the Maldives and if that's the case it's Brash new president has a backup plan an extraordinary scheme to relocate his entire nation he's already been stashing money away to buy land in a foreign country and the place that he's been eyeing off well it's six thousand kilometers that way Australia if all else fails is there a particular part of Australia you'd like to put a downroots um well you would want me to say this wouldn't you I would I mean I mean we should go up North where the beaches are there we are the secret is almost uh and so the top end of Australia would suit you fine would suit is fine uh we are already see creatures and and we can't just suddenly become land creatures anymore but for the maldivians their lives so intimately bound with the sea the idea of pulling up stumps is impossible to imagine for me personally I will not leave this country I will not leave this country I'll be the last man standing [Music] the president would much prefer to stay put she's even ready to think about a future Nation built entirely over the water as some of the resorts are now the resorts and we can have order blocks of floods and you've you've seen Water World [Laughter] marginal it's a fringe thinking it's no longer French foreign [Music] world is of course a science fiction scenario Hollywood's vision of a world drowned by global warming but if you believe Charlie veran the future of the planet could be just as Bleak I think the big unknown to most people is the extent of the catastrophe it is going to be severe Beyond imagination and I've got two young children and for me this thought is just horrible because this is a world they're going to live in we have just 10 years to cut our carbon emissions enough to avoid this disaster says Charlie veran 10 years to save the Maldives and ultimately ourselves the future does look Bleak but I have to say that if humans if we get our act together it doesn't have to go down the students day path we can turn it around that's that I think is is a hardening thought and for this tiny Nations prisoner turned president this is just one more battle that has to be won I believe that there will come a Tipping Point in people's minds uh Humanity will not just it's extinct itself you're the ultimate Optimist aren't you I don't want to give up this fight we'll fight it and and we will change the world hello I'm Tom Steinfeld thank you for watching it's 60 Minutes Australia subscribe to our Channel now for brand new stories and exclusive Clips every week and don't miss out on our extra minute segments in full episodes of 60 minutes which are on 9now.com and the nine Now app

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 339,986

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Tara Brown, Tom Steinfort, 60Mins, Amelia Adams, news, world news, news australia, investigative journalism, 60 minutes australia youtube, 60 minutes youtube, 60 minutes episodes, 60 minutes australia episodes, 60 minutes australia, 60 minutes, climate change, global warming, rising sea level, maldives, indian ocean, resort holiday, vacation, destination, maldives paradise, over water cabana, beach holiday, beach getaway, island

Id: Z1q5bG-L5Cs

Length: 14min 8sec (848 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 06 2023