The Helengeli Region lies directly below the Gaafaru Region in the North Malé Atoll, and deep, clear waters at the edges of the atoll mean excellent visibility, and sightings of large pelagics such as barracuda, trevally and tuna, and big...

The seabed east of Malé Atoll shelves steeply to 2,000 meters and the west less steeply to over 300 meters. The presence of deep, clear waters all around the atoll means excellent visibility, especially with in-going currents. Pelagics such as...

The words ‘climate change’, ‘migration,’ and ‘islands’ evoke images of “climate change refugees” fleeing from paradise as the ocean mercilessly rises over pristine beaches. These representations rarely hold in reality. Phrases such as “climate refugees” and “climate migrants” are severely criticized in scientific literature, and many islanders object to the terms. The Maldives is a perfect case to illustrate how islanders view links between climate change and migration. The country, an Indian Ocean archipelago with 1,190 islands grouped into 26 low-lying coral atolls, has its highest point just 2.4 meters above sea level. Unless policymakers understand the Islanders’ thoughts on migration as a climate to fail, hurting the people whom the policies were designed to help. Maldivians are concerned about sea-level rise, but it is not yet an everyday, experienced reality. More urgent are the Islanders’ immediate, non-climate change related issues, such as lack of housing and overcrowding around the Maldivian capital, freshwater scarcity, and inadequate waste management. In the future, though, without climate change adaptation measures addressing sea-level rise, climate change impacts may increasingly influence Maldivian migration decisions. In the meantime, Maldives continues to experience slow onset hazards, such as coastal erosion, sea-level rise, salinity intrusion, and changes in monsoon patterns and rainfall. These changes affect local livelihoods, housing, freshwater access, food production, and fisheries. Consequently, scientists and the government discuss migration as an adaptation strategy for the population. Migration as adaptation refers to displacing entire communities once all other adaptation possibilities are exhausted. Considering Maldives’ location and Maldivians’ attitudes toward climate change migration is especially pertinent to Maldives’ future....

Over the past century, island biodiversity across the globe has been subjected to extreme pressure due to habitat change, over-exploitation, invasion by alien species and more importantly climate change and pollution. It is common knowledge that small island countries are...

Apart from a few air services, there are no regular scheduled transport links between the Maldives atolls and islands. Transfers between the airport and the resorts are arranged by agents as part of the resort package and are by seaplane,...

Small, quaint and densely settled, Malé (pronounced Mar-lay) is not a spectacular capital city, but there are several points of interest, and it’s spotless and tidy, with a certain charm all of its own. While it sometimes gives the impression...

Though many people dream of a tropical island holiday where they do nothing but laze on the beach, lots of visitors to the Maldives are keen to pursue water sports, especially scuba diving for what the islands are justly renowned....

The Maldivian parliament, the Majlis, Citizens’ Council has 48 members. Malé, which is the capital island and each of the atolls has two representatives. The president chooses the remaining eight parliamentary representatives, has the power to appoint or dismiss cabinet...

Islam is the religion of the Maldives and those who practice it are called Muslims. All Maldivians are Muslims of the Sunni sect, as opposed to the Shi’ite sect. There are no other religions or sects present or permitted in...

The Maldives has a long and rich heritage of arts and crafts and the country is home to some of the most skilled craftsmen in the world. Ancient traditions have been passed from generation to generation and the arts and...