Guardians of Atolls: Examining the Paris Agreement's Role in Climate Change Mitigation and Resilience in the Maldives

Overview Of Maldives

The Dhivehin i.e., people that inhabit the Maldives, are a distinct society with a cultural and ethnographic legacy, and as of 2019, the country has a population of 533,900. The tourist industry, which makes up around 1/3^rd of the Maldives' GDP and is the one that is expanding the fastest, is the engine of the nation's economy. Despite their decreased GDP contributions to 3.5% and 1.7%, respectively, agriculture and fisheries remain important sources of income and subsistence for rural areas. Meanwhile, present issues affecting development in the Maldivian region encompass potential threats posed by climate change, resilience to natural disasters, and environmental sustainability with increasing volumes of solid waste (Sovacool 2012). In particular, the nation's civilization and economy are especially exposed to rising sea levels, coastal storms and subsequent flooding, as the vast majority of the infrastructure bolstering the tourism sector, the fishery, the population, housing structures, and the critical infrastructure such as connectivity of international airports with more than 100 harbours are all concentrated in areas within 100 metres of the coast. Consequently, according to the report of Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s economic modelling, the Maldives could be the most severely affected of the six South Asian nations including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka in terms of the overall economic loss triggered by climate change; the simulation's mean result indicates that the damage could amount to 2.3% of GDP on average in 2050 (Bansal & Datta 2013).