The 9,000 residents of this South Pacific island depend on the sea for their livelihood—fishing. But with global warming, the sea is increasingly encroaching upon their homes. Many have already emigrated, mostly to New Zealand, making them one of the world's first groups of climate refugees.
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The first democratically elected president of the Maldives came to office at a critical time for his country. The nation, made up for 1,200 islands, is slipping beneath the Indian Ocean. President Mohamed Nasheed has urged developed nations to reduce the carbon emissions that are causing the Maldives to disappear, but instead of waiting idly by, he has proposed buying a new homeland for his 300,000 countrymen with some of the massive revenue brought in by international tourists.
"We do not want to leave the Maldives, but we also do not want to be climate refugees living in tents for decades," Nasheed said.
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Within just two decades, as many as 20 million Bangladeshis will become climate refugees due to rising sea levels. Parts of Bhola Island were swallowed up 15 years ago, leaving half a million people without homes. The country is flat, sitting just above sea level and on the largest river delta in the world, making it home to many natural disasters. Rising tides and heavy rains have destroyed crops, and already Bangladesh has plans for floating schools, libraries, villages, hospitals, and gardens.
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China's Gobi Desert is expanding by more than 10,000 square miles each year. Highways are regularly overtaken by sand dunes and formerly hospitable rural areas are becoming dust-filled nightmares for residents.
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Like China, Chad is affected by "desertification" as global warming leads to the disappearance of Lake Chad, which has lost over 20 percent of its volume.
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In Mali, crop yields have fallen sharply with erratic and declining rainfall levels, forcing farmers to move to feed their families.
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The permafrost holding the Shishmaref above the sea is thawing, causing dramatic erosion that threatens the existence of this Alaskan village, home of 600 people. One house has fallen into the ocean, while more than a dozen others have been moved to avoid that fate.
Shishmaref is only 20 miles south of the Arctic Circle; it has been inhabited for centuries, but became a more permanent home for the nomadic people there when the federal government built a school on the island 110 years ago. Several other villages in the area are also moving because of erosion or flooding.
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Germany's beautiful Halligen Islands depend on periodic flooding of the North and Wadden Seas to maintain a delicate ecosystem known for abundant lavender and wildlife that thrives in sea water. If sea levels rise, though, the landscape of this tourist region could become uninviting and unlivable for the small number of year-round residents.
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A necklace of 33 islands stretched across over 1 million square miles of the Pacific Ocean, Kiribati’s dry land is slowly disappearing beneath the feet of its 100,000 residents. Within 50 years, the nation could be unlivable. "Our very lives are at stake," Kiribati's President Anote Tong told the United Nations, pleading for action that would save his country, though he fears it’s already too late. Many residents have already fled to New Zealand, the only country currently open to climate change refugees.
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Extreme weather conditions such as floods, droughts, forest fires, and tropical cyclones--all on the uptick because of climate change--have increasingly made the Philippines a difficult place to live.
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This Micronesian nation just north of the equator is home to 62,000 people who've been pounded by a series of climate disasters in recent years. In 2007 and 2008, a drought was followed by tropical storms that produced gigantic waves, flooding the capital city of Majuro. Rising sea levels could completely obliterate the islands over the next century.
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