When we claim to protect nature we are actually protecting ourselves, but does nature need our protection?

The Maldives is an extraordinary place with a unique history. It was and still is a country of a transitional nature and culture. Throughout history, the Maldivians (350.000 people today) changed or expanded their believes, habits and traditions. Their culture dates back 2000 years and their heritage is a mixture of East African and South Asian influences.

The country – or the islands – is situated on the trading route that connects Dubai and Singapore. The Maldives is known to be the romantic dream for tourists seeking exotic destinations. Through its history, the Maldives has always described itself as the emerging and submerging islands.

After being a Portuguese, Dutch and later a British colony, the Maldives gained its freedom in 1965 and has been a republic since then.

The Maldives is surrounded by water and everything there is about seawater, ecology and climate. It is the planet’s lowest country, rising an average of 1.5 m above the ocean surface, and it has the lowest natural highpoint in the world of 2.4 m. A 60 cm raise in sea levels would see the entirety of the Maldives smothered by the ocean and make the Maldivian population probably the first refugees of global warming.