Vision 2050: Screw Hulhumale', floating islands ahoy
While getting my daily dose of blog updates from MvBlogs, I stumbled across an entry by primary0 titled "Vision 2020: Get out of Maldives!". Most people would be too lazy to go to his site and actually read what he's said, so let me summarize: new data claims that by 2100, the sea level would rise even further than previously expected.
We could go on living happily, were it that the data suggested mere millimeters or maybe even few more centimeters but unfortunately, that is not the case. The reports claim rises of anywhere from 3m to 20m. RealClimate.org has this article summarizing four papers that were published recently in the popular "Science" journal. These papers has stirred up a lot of discussions on the issue of global warming and sea level rise. Global warming has been an issue on table for ages. Heck, our beloved President is revered on government TV and Radio for his 1987 UN General Assembly speech in which he brought up the global warming and the resulting sea levels rise issue as a matter of concern to a country - especially as a low-lying island nation. (Yes, wise man he is. *respect* *cough* *cough*).
What got to me after reading the results from these latest research is that all of them predict sea level rise rates of 3mm to 10mm per year. Image that. That is a lot. By 2050, there'd have been an increase of 50cm!! That would immerse a lot of the Maldives under water. According to the Environment Research Center, the island elevations in Maldives varies from 0m to 2.4m. The 2.4 meters is the highest level and is found on the island of Vilingili, Addu. I couldn't find more specific island elevation data, however, I did find this report at UNEP that estimates that 80% of Maldives is 1m or less! This could indeed mean that a few of our beloved islands could slowly start to vanish off the map - starting with the alluring sand banks or "finolhu". Maybe with island elevation data available, we could even draw up a time-to-vanish schedule for all the islands
Sea level rise isn't to deter us though. There has to be *some* solution to this right? RIGHT? Yes, I thought so too. I recalled that the Dutch are in the same boat as us. Holland is a country with quite a lot of low lying land, with some parts going as low as 7m BELOW the sea level! The Dutch are a smart bunch and they have already started preparing for negative effects of sea level rise. Their plans knocked me out of my seat. Well, not really but it is fascinating nonetheless. They've already built houses, 37 to be exact, that rise with the water - up to 5 meters! The houses don't care what level the water is at - they simply float on water. Have a look at this article - it features pictures! Apparently, they plan to build "cities" with 21,000 of such "amphibious" houses at a cost of 250,000 to 300,000 Euros per 120 square meters. Hmm. I wonder how much it costs for the "production" of the same land in Hulhumale'. I couldn't find any cost/expenditure information about this on the net. Any government site got this published? The HDC site certainly has zilch on anything financial...
Another interesting project that is not so related to global warning but goes along well with the concept of floating cities is Freedom Ship. It is essentially a ship that would house 18,000 living units with commercial services and other life?s amenities all thrown in. Maybe we Maldivians should build such ships (or arks - of Noah's Ark fame) to prolong our existence till the Ice Age wears off. The last ice age took 100,000 years though - quite a lot of time to live in arks.
The floating cities remind me of an "experiment" I carried out about 3 years ago. I had the idea of building a floating platform - not a new idea I know - but I wanted to build it anyway. The idea was nicked from a quite famous man and his self built island, known as Spiral Island. If it succeeded, it could've been made an exotic restaurant or even a holiday getaway. If it failed, it would become my home - a floating home for myself
(Please refrain from laughing for as long as you can). I got together a bunch of friends to join in and we collected empty "Oki" cooking oil containers - those large ones. We also got a large wooden (container) crater from the Customs area. We dragged all of it to Vilingili and built ourselves a raft. It worked - within our "experimental parameters". We got bored by the end of the day and dumped the setup on a mostly secluded part of the beach and forgot about the entire thing. It was agreed it was feasible and a solid framework with enough containers would be a cheap and effective method to achieve what we were after. Seriously. 
Anyway, back to global warming and sea level rise. Somebody please pass on my request to the President on starting a project to build floating homes/islands, for all our beloved people. The project can be called "Extinction Survival Program". It will be a project along the lines of Hulhumale' but only a lot more grand and sophisticated. Of course it will be something to take away more funds from the budget but it is guaranteed to provide safety for everyone (Fine print: all those who can afford to buy units. Even finer print: all those who are mega rich and privileged ). Psst. I volunteer to lead the project!
We could go on living happily, were it that the data suggested mere millimeters or maybe even few more centimeters but unfortunately, that is not the case. The reports claim rises of anywhere from 3m to 20m. RealClimate.org has this article summarizing four papers that were published recently in the popular "Science" journal. These papers has stirred up a lot of discussions on the issue of global warming and sea level rise. Global warming has been an issue on table for ages. Heck, our beloved President is revered on government TV and Radio for his 1987 UN General Assembly speech in which he brought up the global warming and the resulting sea levels rise issue as a matter of concern to a country - especially as a low-lying island nation. (Yes, wise man he is. *respect* *cough* *cough*).
What got to me after reading the results from these latest research is that all of them predict sea level rise rates of 3mm to 10mm per year. Image that. That is a lot. By 2050, there'd have been an increase of 50cm!! That would immerse a lot of the Maldives under water. According to the Environment Research Center, the island elevations in Maldives varies from 0m to 2.4m. The 2.4 meters is the highest level and is found on the island of Vilingili, Addu. I couldn't find more specific island elevation data, however, I did find this report at UNEP that estimates that 80% of Maldives is 1m or less! This could indeed mean that a few of our beloved islands could slowly start to vanish off the map - starting with the alluring sand banks or "finolhu". Maybe with island elevation data available, we could even draw up a time-to-vanish schedule for all the islands
Sea level rise isn't to deter us though. There has to be *some* solution to this right? RIGHT? Yes, I thought so too. I recalled that the Dutch are in the same boat as us. Holland is a country with quite a lot of low lying land, with some parts going as low as 7m BELOW the sea level! The Dutch are a smart bunch and they have already started preparing for negative effects of sea level rise. Their plans knocked me out of my seat. Well, not really but it is fascinating nonetheless. They've already built houses, 37 to be exact, that rise with the water - up to 5 meters! The houses don't care what level the water is at - they simply float on water. Have a look at this article - it features pictures! Apparently, they plan to build "cities" with 21,000 of such "amphibious" houses at a cost of 250,000 to 300,000 Euros per 120 square meters. Hmm. I wonder how much it costs for the "production" of the same land in Hulhumale'. I couldn't find any cost/expenditure information about this on the net. Any government site got this published? The HDC site certainly has zilch on anything financial...
Another interesting project that is not so related to global warning but goes along well with the concept of floating cities is Freedom Ship. It is essentially a ship that would house 18,000 living units with commercial services and other life?s amenities all thrown in. Maybe we Maldivians should build such ships (or arks - of Noah's Ark fame) to prolong our existence till the Ice Age wears off. The last ice age took 100,000 years though - quite a lot of time to live in arks.
The floating cities remind me of an "experiment" I carried out about 3 years ago. I had the idea of building a floating platform - not a new idea I know - but I wanted to build it anyway. The idea was nicked from a quite famous man and his self built island, known as Spiral Island. If it succeeded, it could've been made an exotic restaurant or even a holiday getaway. If it failed, it would become my home - a floating home for myself
(Please refrain from laughing for as long as you can). I got together a bunch of friends to join in and we collected empty "Oki" cooking oil containers - those large ones. We also got a large wooden (container) crater from the Customs area. We dragged all of it to Vilingili and built ourselves a raft. It worked - within our "experimental parameters". We got bored by the end of the day and dumped the setup on a mostly secluded part of the beach and forgot about the entire thing. It was agreed it was feasible and a solid framework with enough containers would be a cheap and effective method to achieve what we were after. Seriously. Anyway, back to global warming and sea level rise. Somebody please pass on my request to the President on starting a project to build floating homes/islands, for all our beloved people. The project can be called "Extinction Survival Program". It will be a project along the lines of Hulhumale' but only a lot more grand and sophisticated. Of course it will be something to take away more funds from the budget but it is guaranteed to provide safety for everyone (Fine print: all those who can afford to buy units. Even finer print: all those who are mega rich and privileged ). Psst. I volunteer to lead the project!
