Now picture that same beach next summer, destroyed. Perhaps it eroded
so much that there's barely room to spread out a towel. Maybe a
colossal concrete hotel is being built where the sand dunes used to be.
Maybe it has been coated with a slick of spilled oil. Hopefully, your
slice of paradise will remain well preserved. But at many beaches around
the world, nightmares like these are coming true (just ask anyone who
lives on the Gulf Coast).
We've selected six beach destinations around the world in danger of
disappearing forever due to forces such as erosion, pollution, rising
sea levels, reckless overdevelopment, and sand mining. But there are
hundreds more. If we don't curb global warming, insist on sustainable
development, and protect the world's beaches against pollution and
mismanagement, the idyllic shorelines we cherish will be preserved only
in memory.
The Maldives
The Maldives
Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images
With postcard-ready beaches, unblemished coral reefs, and some of the
world's most luxurious resorts, the Maldives are for many a
once-in-a-lifetime destination. But the island nation's own lifetime may
itself be cut drastically short: Rising sea levels all but doom this
string of 26 low-lying atolls in the Indian Ocean, unless the rest of
the world acts—quickly—to curb global warming.
With an average elevation of just four feet, the Maldives may,
according to some scientists' models, be submerged before the end of the
century. Other coastal geologists believe that the islands, which are
composed principally of coral, can regenerate more quickly than the
water level rises, and that wave action can build up the islands. But
rising ocean temperatures—another symptom of global warming—inhibit
coral growth, and few Maldivians seem prepared to sit back and take that
chance. President Mohamed Nasheed has committed the Maldives to
becoming the world's first carbon-neutral nation by 2020, by building a
wind farm to meet 40 percent of the electricity demand; installing 5
million square feet of solar panels; recycling agricultural waste as
fertilizer; and asking foreign visitors to buy carbon credits. Valiant
as these efforts may be, they are unlikely to stem the (literal) tide,
so Nasheed is also searching for a new homeland in case the entire
population is forced to relocate.
If you go: The Marine Lab at the Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru resort
does serious scientific research on marine ecology, coral recovery, and
endangered species. Guests can visit the lab and join biologists on
dives.
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