Main Takeaways:

• Sea level rise is a long-term effect of climate change. In fact, the oceans are expected to continue rising for centuries even if we stop emitting greenhouse gas now. Scientists expect that the threat from rising sea levels to the Maldives will only grow.
• Atoll islands like those in the Maldives are capable of naturally changing shape as their surrounding sea level rises. This can result in islands gaining land area, but even growing islands are menaced by climate change. Rising sea levels and warming waters make floods more frequent, and they threaten valuable coastal ecosystems like mangroves and coral reefs.
• The people and government of the Maldives are adapting as well, by constructing sea walls around inhabited islands and making new land through land reclamation.