the maldives are well known as a bucket list getaway hearing the countrys name conjures up images of luxury huts overlooking an aqua blue ocean but climate change may cross the country off the map completely the archipelago which is made up of over 1100 coral islands in the middle of the indian ocean is the lowest lying nation in the world therefore sea level rise caused by global climate change is an existential threat to the island nation at the current rate of global warming almost 80 of the maldives could become uninhabitable by 2050 according to multiple reports from nasa and the us geological survey our islands are slowly being inundated by the sea one by one ibrahim mohamed solih the president of the maldives told the un climate change conference or cop26 earlier this week if we do not reverse this trend the maldives will cease to exist by the end of this century the maldives are well known for their overwater huts dan manzoabc news the islands that are home to local maldivians not the resort islands stand to lose the most mohammed nasheed the former president of the maldives and a leading voice for climate change equity told abc news that more than 90 of islands in the maldives have severe erosion and 97 of the country no longer has fresh groundwater ibrahim mubbasir and his family live on the island of dhiffushi it is suffering from severe erosion and flooding has increased from two or three times a year to twice a month four years ago the familys well became unusable because of salt water contamination leaving them to rely on collecting rainwater mubbasir said they only have enough fresh water to last for three more months things that we thought would happen towards the end of the century we are experiencing now aminath shauna the maldives minister of environment climate change and technology told abc news ginger zee shauna said that more than 50 of the national budget is spent on adapting to climate change when asked what the maldives will look like in 2050 shauna responded are you willing to take the maldives as climate refugees i think thats the conversation that needs to happen and its not just the maldives island countries around the world have been asking developed nations for funds since 2009 countries with the highest greenhouse gas emissions china the united states and india are mostly responsible for the rapid sea level rise severe coastal erosion in dhiffushi maldives dan manzoabc news maldives coral reefs at the center of the maldives culture are their coral reefs in 2016 the maldives lost their front line of defense when a bleaching event affected about 60 of the coral reefs according to aya naseem a marine biologist and cofounder of the maldives coral institute without coral reefs the islands are wide open to the rising waters naseem said they have one realistic choice they need to build back and