The rise in sea level as a result of climate change has meant that the archipelago, whose highest point is just 2.4 metres above sea level, is at risk of disappearing under the Indian Ocean, according to Mohammed Nasheed, who became the Maldives’ first democratically elected president in November.

Using some of the Maldives’ revenue from tourism – the industry contributed £133million to the country’s GDP in 2006 – Nasheed plans to set up a ‘sovereign wealth fund’ that could eventually be used by the government to purchase land from other states for its citizens, should its 1,200 islands become uninhabitable.

The Guardian reported that Nasheed had approached several countries with the idea and that they had been ‘receptive’. Sri Lanka and India are the primary options because of their cultural similarity to the Maldives, while Australia is a possible alternative due to its huge areas of unoccupied land.

‘We do not want to leave the Maldives, but we also do not want to be climate refugees living in tents for decades,’ Nasheed said.

January 2009