nationalgeographic.com
02.09.2023 / 10:15
Can tourism positively impact climate change in the Indian Ocean?
For anyone heading to Indian Ocean beaches from colder climates, the region’s warm waters have an obvious appeal. But with sea levels rising faster here on average than in the Atlantic and Pacific, many of those beaches are at risk of being claimed by the tides — threatening the natural habitats and livelihoods of people living in coastal areas. This is a global problem, of course: sea levels worldwide have risen around 10cm in the past 30 years, with the rate increasing from 1.5mm a year through most of the 20th century to 3.9mm a year now. Projections for future sea level rises vary greatly, but when you’re in the Maldives, whose highest points rise to just over two metres above sea level, every centimetre counts.