Climate Migration from Small Island Developing States: The Case of the Maldives

Climate change is no longer a distant threat to face in the future. It is here and the consequences thereof are already playing out in front of our eyes. Projections tell us that these impacts are only set to worsen, especially in the face of a slow global response to halt the effects of climate change. Low-lying and coastal areas are on the frontlines and will be the first to see the most devastating impacts as sea levels rise, submerging land, and as ocean warming and acidification bear negative consequences for coastal industries such as fisheries. As land becomes uninhabitable and the livelihoods of communities are decimated, people will migrate, perhaps first internally and then externally. The implication for small island states, especially those with geography characterised by atolls, is that, over time, there will be nowhere to migrate to internally. What will happen to the populations of island nations? Where will they go? This chapter explores the maritime security-sustainability nexus in the context of climate migration from small island developing states, and draws on the case of the Maldives as a real-world example. It argues that while national policy must be explicit about its strategic approach to climate migration, the broader international community will need to generate the political will to address new migratory patterns and to do so with compassion.