Arriving in Maldives

The Maldives – or necklace of islands, in the Dhivehi language - is a small island nation stretching over 800 kilometers just off the coast of India. Of the area it occupies in the Indian Ocean, only 1% of the Maldives is actual land mass. Spread out over 20 atolls, the population hovers at around 300,000 – a number which is more than doubled by the number of tourists who visit annually. 200 of the 1,190 islands are inhabited by Maldivians, and, in a unique tourism scheme, more than 90 other islands have been designated resort islands. Tourists arrive at the airport, and are immediately whisked off by boat to their resorts.

In the last year, Maldives has been thrust into the international spotlight. As a Sunni Muslim country, many have pointed to Maldives as a prime example of what a peaceful, democratic transition might look like in other parts of the Muslim world. In October of last year, Maumoon Gayoom, then Asia’s longest-serving president, agreed to hold Maldives’ first multiparty presidential elections.

Anni Nasheed, a man who opposed Gayoom for more than 20 years, enduring imprisonment and torture, became his chief rival in the elections. In the course of his lifetime, Nasheed was jailed more than 13 times, including spending a year and a half in solitary confinement at the age of 23. He began as a journalist in Male’ reporting election fraud but after enduring imprisonment he eventually sought refuge in first Sri Lanka and then the UK, where he started the Maldivian Democratic Party. In the course of last year’s election he took the lead among the opposition, gaining backing from Gayoom’s rival factions. His election has rocked the country, and 8 months into his presidency, not unlike Obama, his job is far from an easy one.

The head of a new coalition government, President Nasheed has a lot on his agenda. In addition to ushering in a new democracy, Nasheed made an unprecedented statement in May last year. “What we need to do is nothing short of decarbonizing the entire global economy,” he is quoted in one BBC article. “If man can walk on the moon, we can unite to defeat our common carbon enemy…And so today, I announce that the Maldives will become the first carbon-neutral country in the world.”

Maldives has been deemed the flattest nation in the world, and if scientists’ predictions are correct, a two-meter sea level rise could entirely wipe out the country in the coming years. The tsunami in 2004 was devastating to the southern atolls – a repeat episode could be disastrous. Increased CO2 in the atmosphere also leads to an acidification of seawater, which bleaches and damages the coral – a natural buffer for the island.

As an absolute last resort, he has also announced a resettlement plan – naming India, Sri Lanka and Australia as possible sites. In the meantime though, Maldives is gathering forces locally and abroad to combat climate change and make a global statement.

As Zaheena Rasheed once said to me – name a problem and we’ve got it here in Maldives. As Maldivians navigate the new democracy they’re also dealing with a widespread drug problem, child abuse, and religious extremism. I arrive in Maldives in a time of intense transition – passions are running high and there are many inspiring movements underway.