EARTH FROM ABOVE - MALE' by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Male' Island, Kaafu Atoll, Maldive Islands

Male', capital of the Maldives, stands where two atolls meet. All the political, administrative, economic and cultural functions of the country are performed within its 1.8 square kilometers (0.7 square mile), and the town is home to slightly more than one-quarter of Maldivians, about 70,000 people. With 900 inhabitants per square kilometer (2300 per square mile) the Maldives is the seventh most densely populated country in the world. As a result, land use is highly specialized: one island acts as the capital, another houses the airport, a third is an oil depot, a forth a prison. About 200 islands are inhabited, and 90 are reserved for tourists. The risk of land shortage is due less to rapid population growth than to rising sea levels, for the Maldives rise no more than 2 meters (6 1/2 feet) above sea level. The dangers that climate change brings to countries such as the Maldives - extreme storms and floods have already occurred - have put island states at the forefront of international climate talks, leading them to call on the major industrialized countries who emit vast quantities of green house gases. In some places, work has begun building dikes to shore up the islands for the eventualities of warming climate and rising sea level.

------------

NOTE: The above picture and text is the copyrighted works of Yann Arthus-Bertrand from his photo series "Earth from Above"

*** The Statistical figure of 70,000 as the population of Male' is wrong. The figure stands at 104,000 from the census of 2006.