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Congratulations Ihma Shareef!

 

  • Portrait Ihma Shareef

    Ihma Shareef, 23 years
    Male, Maldives

    Ihma is from the capital island of Male'. She recently completed her studies in international relations, sociology and law.

    She plans to pursue a career as an international civil servant in the areas of sustainable development, international relations and international law.

    • Its getting hotter every day in the Republic of Maldives
    • Villingili Harbour, children play unaware of how climate change affects their security and right to life
    • Local fisherman's home and boatyard villingili island. The house constantly is threatened by coastal erosion
    • At the local masmarukeyt (fish market). As fish stocks deplete due to unpredictable weather patterns Maldivians face increasing threats to our food security.
    • Climate Change effects on the fishing industry and Maldivian food security as yellow fin tuna fish stocks deplete.
    • As erosion affects islands and damages homes, more people move to Male, the Capital creating overcrowding and housing problems
    • Damaged sea walls due to tidal surges and erosion has already become a part of a Maldivians every day life. This damage will only increase in the coming years.
    • A view of Male the Capital of the Republic of Maldives. Eighty percent of islands in the Maldives are less than 1 meter above sea level.
    • Villingili Island sea wall damaged and coastal erosion
    • Climate change worsens the plight of those already living in extreme poverty struggling to surive. Moosa who lives and works in neelam koshi junkyard Male, Maldives.
    • In the Maldives, you can climb a palm tree and be higher than the highest point of land. So where do Maldivians go if sea levels rise.
    • Tourism makes up for one-third of Maldivian the economy directly. People come to the Maldives for the flawless beaches but if IPCC projections are accurate then soon these beaches will disappear.
    • The tetrapods that currently protect the capital from flooding and tidal surges will not be sufficient
    • It is our responsibility to protect present and future generations of Maldivians.
    • Our lives are inextricably linked to the sea. As the sun sets, we hope that tommorow brings a solution that ensures sea level rise no longer threatens our very existence.

    The Maldives is a chain of coral atolls made up of 1192 islets. About 80 per cent of the islands are less than a metre above sea level. The actual and predicted impacts of climate change not only intensify the unique challenges we face but also threaten our very existence - as a nation and a people. The pictures I have taken around Male' (the capital of the Maldives), where I live, and the neighbouring Villingili Island, provide only a small glimpse of how global warming is already affecting my life, community and country. In the Maldives we rely heavily on fishing for food, livelihoods and economic health. However, fishing is now extremely unpredictable because of rapid changes in weather patterns and coral bleaching.

    The lifeline of the industry - tuna fishing - depends on bait fish, which live on the reefs. As the reefs die, the fish disappear. Flooding, sea surges, beach erosion and coral bleaching are a threat to our natural environment and, therefore, to the crucial tourism industry, which depends on the beauty of that environment. Erosion also threatens our homes, all of which are potentially vulnerable to the encroaching sea. For the Maldives, climate change is a threat that has implications for the right to life of all Maldivians, and for the right to self-determination - the right to live in our ancestral homeland. International climate change negotiations must succeed - our survival depends on it.


     

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