Scientists propose to raise the Maldives by six meters to protect against rising sea levels
(ORDO NEWS) — A new study from the University of East Anglia says that for long-term protection, the Maldives will need to increase its height above sea level by six times by adding new islands or building up existing ones. The same approach will help keep residents safe from tsunamis.
The increase in height and the construction of new islands in the Maldives archipelago will help solve the problem of flooding of territories due to rising sea levels due to the climate crisis. This is stated in the scientific work of British scientists at the University of East Anglia.
According to Eco-Business, researchers believe that for long-term protection, the Maldives will need to rise at least six meters above sea level.
The South Asian state is considered especially vulnerable, since more than 80% of its land, consisting of more than 1 thousand islands, rise less than a meter above the ocean waters.
Raising the Maldives to the desired height will require high costs, experts say. According to their calculations, at a price of $8 per cubic meter of sand, it would take $8 million to raise a square kilometer of earth by one metre.
The scientists noted that the Maldives has already built a new island of Hulhumale with sand extracted from the seabed.
According to their calculations, the approach proposed in the scientific work will be most effective with a slow rise in sea level associated with climate stabilization.
“Land reclamation according to the approaches we propose is now widespread in the Maldives, and the new island of Hulhumale, built next to the capital island of Male and connected by a new bridge, has been raised about one meter above the natural height of the island to protect against sea level rise. and tsunamis,” said Robert Nicholls, director of the Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research.
The authors of the scientific paper added that the concept of building new islands also makes sense for other low-lying island states, such as Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands.
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