Threat to Islands Mon 26 Sep 1988
Threat to islands (within the next 30 years. Prediction made 32 years ago.)
MALE, Maldives:
A gradual rise in average sea level is threatening to completely cover this Indian Ocean nation of
1196 small islands with-in the next 30 years, according to authorities.
The Environmental Affairs Director, Mr Hussein Shihab, said an estimated rise of 20 to 30
centimetres in the next 20 to 40 years could be “catastrophic” for most of the islands, which
were no more than a metre above sea level.
The United Nations Environment Project was planning a study of the problem.
But the end of the Maldives and its 200,000 people could come sooner if drinking
water supplies dry up by 1992, as predicted.
